Gladiators
by rayluva4
Summary: COMPLETE. 3 girls are thrown into a Romen gladiator school and told they are to be like courtesans for the men.But what Rome doesn't know is that these girls are the biggest handfulls in Italy.How will the guys survive these girls?
1. Character Wanted

Hey all! So I'm back with yet another story and I know I shouldn't because I have a lot of other stories I need to finish but when I thought of this I just couldn't help myself! I was watchin this thing on t.v about ancient roman gladiators and I was like, 'oh! I've got an idea!' lol so here it is… oh but first a better summary.

**Better summary: Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto live in one of the best gladiator training schools in all of Rome. But one thing all the gladiators love about this place is the personal women slaves. But not all is great with these boys because they just so happen to get stuck with the 3 biggest hand fulls Italy has ever seen. How will the girls survive? Or better yet how will the guys? **

Yep this is my first Naruto fanfic! But there'll be more coming cause I've already got an idea cooking up in my head, woot woot! Oh and this one is gonna be rated M for safety for like violence and language and stuff later.

Ok a little background on gladiators: well pretty much all the facts in this story are true except for a couple that I had to change around, but most are facts. For example most gladiators did have women given to them, but were mostly used for their pleasure, but they did cook meals and cleaned and did laundry and crap. And yes there were gladiator training schools that they were forced to stay in if they were a gladiator, but they were fed and bathed and given a place to stay, but in return they were whipped, chained and beaten a lot of the time and they also had to put their life on the line in battles. Most gladiators were criminals or slaves but some become gladiators by free will for only god knows why. Most of these men only had to be gladiators for 3 to 5 years, battling only a handful of battles each year. If they survived these years their reward was freedom. And why did they have these gladiator fights? For Roman peoples entertainment…to see people kill each other and be killed by wild animals too. Weird right? I'd say…

Anyway changed a couple things around but that's it.

So anyway I'm already using Sakura and my character, Ana, as two of the three girls but I need one more and I was hoping someone would like to give me a character they made up. I thought it'd be kinda cool to put a character someone else made up so yeah.

If you're interested here are the guidelines:

**Name: (self-explanatory.) **

**Age: (between 16 and 19. In the story Gaara, Sasuke and my character are all 17. Naruto and Sakura are 16.) **

**Hair Appearance: (what color is her hair, how long, stuff like that.)**

**Eye Color: (self-explanatory also.)**

**Personality: (how she acts.) **

**Criminal Past: (what she did to get into gladiator school. Doesn't have to be really bad but not nothing either.) **

**Past: (-optional- just like family stuff or her past or background or something.) **

**Dislikes and Fears: (what she doesn't like AND what she fears.) **

**Likes: (stuff she enjoys/ hobbies. Remember this story takes place in 440 B.C.) **

**Gladiator: (do you want her to fight as a female gladiator later in the story or not.) **

**Early bird or does she like to sleep in: (don't ask just need to know) **

Alright you can just give me your character in your review. Oh and a reminder that whoever's character I pick, she'll be paired up with Gaara, hope that's alright, I mean he's cool huh?

I'll pick a character who I think will fit best with the story. Here's a hint in what I'm looking for:

**Hint: **An equalizer if ya know what I mean. Like Sakura's kind of the shy smart one, while my character Ana's like the headstrong, tempered one. So I'm kinda looking for a go-between, if ya know what I mean.

Ok well, just put the character in the review and I'll put up the next chapter when I pick one! It won't be too long! Oh and be sure to check out my other stories while your waitin! Thanks!

---rayluva4


	2. Character Info

Yay!

So anyway thanks to **KidManga** for the character I appreciate it but it's not exactly what I was looking for but thank you so much anyway! I hope you keep reading!

And thank you **XoDallasBaby4evaXo** for your character, which I'm using.

So here are the three girls and the info on them, that I'm using in this story

**Name**: Maria Kikiel (ke-ke-ell) Fonseca (fawn-say-kuh)  
**Age**: 17  
**Hair Appearance**: Brunette and her hair is long and goes a few inches before her butt. Puts it up in a ponytail or a bun or pigtails sometimes but she likes to keep it down unless she's in a fight. She has gold and red highlights and sidebangs that are blonde.  
**Eye Color**: Very pretty hazel/green eyes and has crimson/gold specks. She also has a scar an inch or two above her left eye from a fight a while back when she was small and it's red.   
**Personality**: Maria has "mood swings". One minute she'll be pissed off and then she's totally over it the next. If someone gets in her way, she takes it personally and usually ends up the winner. She likes too practice fighting and knows a lot about swords and arrows.   
**Criminal Past**: She stole gems, gold, etc…She stole a lot of valuable stuff.  
**Past:** Her mom and dad died a long time ago...and she has an older brother... but she doesn't see him much though. So she's sad about that because he's usually always traveling and every time they make plans he blows her off for a trip or something that comes up. She has a white pet rabbit too named Snowflake.  
**Dislikes and Fears**: She doesn't like very horny people and she hates bugs...every time she sees one she totally freaks out, even for a very smart, strong person, bugs scare her.  
**Likes:** Being with her friends and fighting.   
**Gladiator:** Yes she will be. (Hope that's alright?)   
**Early bird or does she like to sleep in:** Maria likes to sleep in.

**Pairing: **Gaara

This character is brought to you by: **XoDallasBaby4evaXo.** Thank you!

This is my character:

**Name: **Anabella Sofia Sinesio (sin-es- e-o)

**Age: **17

**Hair Appearance**: Silvery white hair that's about waist length with a couple of bangs that are parted and pushed to the side.

**Eye Color**: Crystal blue **  
Personality: **She's tough and doesn't take shit from people and cares very much for her friends and family, she also has problems with authority and has a temper on her.

**Criminal Past: **Stole money and food to feed her sick mother and her two younger sisters and had to kill a solider in the process. **  
Past: **Her father died in war a long time ago so now she takes care of her mother who has been sick for a while and her two younger sisters; Serenity who is 11 and Cassie who is 8. She also always wears this pretty, expensive necklace that's in the shape of a teardrop and it's crystal blue to match her eyes. Her father managed to pay for. It's the only thing she has left of him and she never takes it off.

**Dislikes and Fears: **She dislikes authority, people insulting her or her friends and family, cooking. She fears fish (don't ask, I don't know) and bugs.

**Likes: **Looking out for her family and singing and her necklace.

**Gladiator: **Yes she gonna be a female gladiator.

**Early bird or not**: Oh yes! She loves to sleep in; she's crabby in the morning.

**Pairing: **Sasuke

Lol Ana and Maria are a lot alike.

Ok here's Sakura and I tried to do her profile the best I could.

**Name:** Sakura Haruno

**Age:** 16

**Hair Appearance:** Pink hair that's a little past the shoulders and bangs that go down to her ears. She also wears a red ribbon.

**Eye color:** Turquoise/green

**Personality**: A very smart, clever, friendly girl who usually does what's right no matter what, cares for her friends a lot. She likes to learn new things too.

**Criminal Past: **Stole money then cursed out a solider. (lol! That would be funny but it was the only thing I could think of!)

**Past:** She's pretty much just your ordinary girl.

**Dislikes and Fears: **Doesn't like it when she's wrong. She gets annoyed with Naruto easily too. She fears the dark.

**Likes:** When she's right, reading, memorizing things, and learning.

**Gladiator: **No she's not.

**Early bird or not**: Yep she's an early bird.

**Pairing:** Naruto

Ok that's the best I can do for her. Some of it I made up so yeah, not all of it is true.

Alright thanks again to both reviewers and the first chapter should be up pretty soon after I update, 'Just Wanna Be Me.'

Thanks again!

---rayluva4


	3. First Impressions

Yay! I'm finally starting and I'm so excited! So here it is…dun dun dun!

**Midnight-Blazing-phoenix**- hey thanks for the review and the character, I probably should have waited longer before picking but I was so excited I couldn't! Plz forgive me, and I really liked the ides of your character pulling pranks all the time, I defiantly could have used that! Thanks again!

**WintersMourning**- Thank you of the character unfortunately I already picked a character like a day before you reviewed and I'm sorry cause I shouldn't have waited longer… but thanks anyway cause I really like how your character didn't like guys that could have worked really good! Thanks again!

**KidManga**- hey! Glad your looking forward to the next chapter. Thanks!

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE**- lmao! luv the new pen name! I really appreciate that you are recommending my stories to people! …_cries from happiness_…thank you so much and please update 'trouble making duo' too! Thanks again!

Gladiators: Chapter 1- First Impressions 

The drums sounded: it was time to get up.

About 100 male gladiators all came out of their rooms, which were under the Coliseum. The rooms were small with 5 rooms with 3 men assigned to a it. There were 3 small bedrooms, a small common room and a bathroom. These rooms were under the Coliseum, meaning they were under ground to keep cool in the Italian heat and they were made from stone and mud.

Behind the Coliseum though, was where the training was held. See these men were criminals and instead of going to prison they were sent to a gladiator school where they were taught to fight and put their life on the line for people's entertainment. The training area was an enormous fenced in space with equipment to train with and plenty of space for practicing. Also in this area there was a cooking house where slave women cooked for the men they were assigned to and there was also a laundry house where they washed cloths and polished armor.

Yes these women were criminals also, punished by being sent here to work and to be assigned to men as something like courtesans; they were to be obedient to their male masters and do exactly as they say, whatever it may be.

But this is why now, the men were being called up to the center of the training area at 9 in the morning: to pick women. Some of the men had only been there for a couple of mouths and did not have women yet, and this was their time to pick.

The men walked up and grouped around the 20 or so females who were lined up shoulder to shoulder with a Roman solider behind them, holding onto a rope that ties the girl's wrists together. Every single one of these girls where criminals but carefully picked to come here: if you were pretty you came here, if not you went to prison, that simple. Even though all were pretty, almost all of these girls weren't even over 17 yet. Yeah that was pretty young for something like this.

The leading officer stood in front of the girls, "Alright, today groups 10, 16, 40, and 55 will be picking their slaves," he roared reading numbers off a paper he was holding, "Group 10 your first, then 16, 40, and last 55."

Groups 10 and 16 stepped up and each guy in the group picked a female. Then came group 40. This group consisted of Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto. They had only been here a couple of mouths, but were all three exceptional gladiators.

Suddenly a roman solider came walking up dragging a girl behind him who was struggling a lot. "Sorry I'm late," he replied coming up and pushing her down in the ground and in the line, "gave me a little trouble, this one. Oh and there's also another one coming, we had some problems with her too."

Once the girl was kneeling on the ground the solider that had her rope, took out a whip that was hanging at his side and hit her back with it once. The girl grabbed hold of the dirt and squeezed as the tool came in contact with her back; her waist length brown hair that had gold and red highlights in it, hanging down at the sides of her head, her blonde bangs handing down too. Her beautiful hazel/green eyes were filled with anger; there was also a red scar above her left eye. Her name was Maria.

"Here we obey the higher existence: the male. Consider that a warning," the solider replied calmly. Maria ignored him.

Naruto stepped up to pick a girl. He scanned through the line of miserable and horrified-faced women that were all looking at the ground, until he came to a pink haired girl that caught his attention. She had a red ribbon in her hair and her eyes were a pretty turquoise green color.

He smiled, "That one," he replied pointing to her.

The girl looked up suddenly, with a horrified look on her face, knowing that she had been picked.

The head solider looked at his paper and read her name, "Sakura Haruno," he replied.

The solider that had a hold of her rope, stepped forward just like the others that had been picked: they would go to their assigned men later.

Suddenly another soldier appeared holding a rope with a girl attached to the ending, slowly walking behind him. He grabbed a hold of her neck tightly and pushed her into a kneeling position.

"This one tried to run away," the solider stated referring to his girl. This girl had waist length, silvery white hair and a couple long bangs that where parted and pushed to the side. She also had a necklace around her neck in the shape of a crystal blue teardrop.

Sasuke saw the look on Naruto's face when the girl was brought in, "_I bet it would piss_ _Naruto off if I picked her_," he thought to himself smirking.

Sasuke pointed to the girl and the solider stepped up, "Anabella Sinesio," the head solider replied. Naruto glared at Sasuke, jealousy written all over his face. Sasuke smirked, "Loser," he said to him, which made Naruto even madder.

Ana looked up at Sasuke with mesmerizing crystal blue eyes; he didn't see fear in them just determination.

Last to pick was Gaara. He scanned the girls. Like Sasuke, he really didn't care what girl was his but one girl did catch his eye; it was that Maria girl. He didn't know why but for some reason that girl intrigued him.

He pointed to her and the head soldier said her name while the solider behind her stepped up, "Maria Fonseca."

After group 55 picked, then guys went back to their rooms to get ready for the day, while the girls that were picked were led towards the laundry room.

After being spread out facing the laundry room, soldiers behind each girl, the head officer spoke.

"You are hear for two reasons," he spoke with authority but to them as if they were monkeys, "the first and most important reason to why you are here is for the men. The men that picked you are your masters and you are to obey them, the punishment for disobeying them is to be whipped numerous times. You are to do whatever they want, whatever it is and just so you know, raping is not a crime here," he smirked evilly at them, "think of yourselves like courtesans."

Maria and Ana both rolled their eyes in disgust at the same time, while Sakura just looked plain horrified.

"The second reason why you are here," he continued, "is to cook for your men three meals a day, clean cloths, and to polish armor…this is the laundry room, and that over there is the kitchen." He pointed to the building in front of them that had steam coming out of the chimney thing and another building that was to his right off to the side.

No one said anything but Ana who opened her big mouth, "Cook? Are you serious?" she asked. The solider in charge of her smacked her in the face; she turned her head and glared at him. "You are not to speak to men like that," he replied.

The head officer waited patiently until the solider was done disciplining, then he asked,  
"Are there any questions?"

No one said anything.

"Good. Now you will be escorted to your rooms where your masters are, then later there will be someone to come pick you up and take you to the kitchen to cook lunch," he replied walking off.

"_Escorted, huh? More like dragged…"_ Maria thought annoyingly, being pushed toward the rooms.

After going down steps and through many dark, stone hallways with a few lights every once and a while, Ana, Maria, and Sakura finally came to a big, heavy wooden door that had the number '40' sloppily painted on it. One of the soldiers untied them and opened the door and the girls were pushed inside so hard that they fell down. The door closed loudly behind them.

The girls looked up. They were in some sort of room that looked a little like a living room. The walls were made of mud and stone and the floor was dirt, there was a worn out couch looking thing off to the side, and a table and chairs on the other side. There was a small worn out straw rug in the middle of this room. There were also four other doors leading somewhere but were all closed; two on the left, one in the middle in front of them, and one on the right.

Sitting in the same room as them was the girl's masters.

There was one with short blonde hair and blue eyes, sitting on one of the wooden chairs facing them; he smiled when they had come in. Sakura was his.

There was another one leaning up against the door directly in front of them; his eyes were closed and his arms were across his chest. This guy had black/dark blue hair and when he opened his eyes; he exposed dark eyes, pretty much black. He had Ana.

The last guy was lounging on the couch, staring intently at the girls with sky blue eyes. He had red/brown. He got Maria.

No one said anything; they just stared at each other.

Naruto suddenly got off his chair and walked over to the girls to inspect them, but he did have this hungry look in his eyes as he started over to them.

Ana's eyes snapped toward him, "Don't get any closer," she hissed seeing the look in his eye. Naruto was surprised; he hadn't expected them to talk back. He stopped in his tracks.

Sasuke half-heartily laughed from his spot against the door. He started walking toward Ana. She looked up at him from her kneeling position.

Without warning, Sasuke grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. "Do you know why you're here, girl?" he asked looking her straight in the eye.

Ana looked right back with a look of hate and disgust in her eyes. "Yeah for your '_pleasure',_" she hissed, the word pleasure dripping with sarcasm.

Sasuke nodded one, "Which means that we can do whatever we want to you, and you can't do anything about it. Your in our world now wrench, so if I say, 'fuck me' you say…"

"'Of course, whatever way you want me too'," Ana answered sarcastically. Gaara from his position on the couch actually smiled.

Sasuke looked like he was going to smack this girl for back talking him like that, but he didn't. Instead he dropped her on her butt and walked away back to his position saying, "Your just lucky we're not like that, I guarantee half the women you saw today have already lost their virginity and you've only been here for an hour. We could care less if we have women or not."

Sakura, Maria, and Ana looked confused for a minute but decided not to push their luck, so they didn't say anything.

Naruto saw the looks on their faces, "Yeah, believe it," he replied.

"_Wow did we luck out or what? Guess I don't have to worry about someone making any_ _moves on me now…"_ Maria thought.

No one said anything for a while: there was tension in the air from that last episode. But Gaara was the one to break the ice, "My room…Sasuke's room…bathroom…Naruto's room," he replied pointing to each closed door that lead to a room, starting with his room which was closest to him on the right side.

"Yeah what he said," Naruto added, "Oh and my names Naruto by the way, and Sakura your mine if ya didn't know. And Mr. Attitude over there is Sasuke and Ana you belong to him. The grouchy one over on the couch is Gaara, Maria he's got you."

"We're aware," grumbled Ana.

"Those are your clothes," Gaara replied pointing to the table were there was a pile of folded clothes waiting for the girls behind Naruto.

The girls went over to them and took them, each girl getting three pairs of clothes to be washed everyday, two for the day and one for sleeping. The two for wearing in the day time were simple, brown, itchy dresses that wrapped around you and tied at your waist with a rope to keep it in place. The sleeping one was brown and came down to their knees and had long sleeves that hung off the shoulders. They went into the bathroom and came out with their new day clothes on 5 minutes later.

For the rest of the 15 minutes the girls were there, waiting for someone to come and take them to the kitchen, everyone just stared at each other; like if you stared at the person you hated the most long enough, they would just drop dead.

Soon three soldiers came in and took the girls by their arms and dragged them down halls and up stairs until they were at the kitchen with the rest of the girls that were picked today.

The soldiers opened the doors reveling to the girls a big kitchen were there were women everywhere, cooking away. These women had been here longer and were the other gladiator's slaves.

"This is the kitchen where you will make three meals a day for your men. Right now it's lunch so get to it," one of their soldiers yelled at them then all of them left, leaving Sakura, Ana, and Maria there and not sure were to start.

The girls just kind of stared at everyone for a second; women were everywhere hurrying around the large kitchen, going from stove to counter to chopping table, trying to quickly get their master's lunch done so they wouldn't be punished.

Soon Sakura decided it would be best for them to start, "Um, maybe we should start…" she suggested.

Maria nodded going toward some of the vegetables to chop some up and to start. Sakura followed suit but Ana stayed put though, "_Oh shit I suck at cooking…hope Sasuke won't_ _mind…"_ she thought hopefully going over to some fruit.

A half an hour later, all three girls were done cooking so they walked back to their rooms with the guys' food and theirs.

They went into the door and put the plates on the table. Naruto and Gaara looked at the food Sakura and Maria had made them. It looked ok…they decided to eat it. Sasuke on the other hand wasn't so sure about his.

"What the hell is this?" he asked Ana looking down at his plate that had fresh fruit on it but in the middle was some brown looking stuff.

Ana shrugged, "How am I suppose to know, it's not my fault I suck at cooking. For all I know mice could be living in that thing," she answered looking at the brown glob.

Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, "I think your gonna be worse then Naruto," he said.

Naruto glared at him. "Oh stop whining and at least try it," Ana replied, "I'm sure it won't kill ya."

Sasuke stared at the brown stuff like he thought she was crazy for saying that, "Alright fine," he replied sitting back in his chair, "but you first."

Ana stared down at her plate, "But I have my own…" she started to say but after seeing the look Sasuke was giving her she thought differently, "Alright fine…gimme that," she demanded taking the plate and using the spoon to scoop some into her mouth.

Ana about choked, "Eww, ok don't eat that," she warned angrily spitting it back out, "just eat the fucking fruit."

So that's what Sasuke and Ana ate before Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke had to start getting ready for training. Before they could do that though, the same three soldiers as before came barging in.

They took the girls by the arms and dragged them out saying to the guys, "They have to get branded now, boss's orders."

The girls heard this but didn't think they heard it right, "Branded? Are you serious?" Maria asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah isn't that for cows?" Ana added.

"Here your treated like animals, wrench, so get used to it," one solider responded simply like it was the most obvious thing in the word and they were just do stupid to know.

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4 hours later Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto all came back from training only minutes before the girls came in. But this time they were a little different.

As soon as the girls got into the room, they kneeled down and sat on the back of their legs; they all looked miserable and exhausted. They had just got branded with a hot iron stick like animals, so everyone knew to whom they belonged too. It was on the backs of their necks; a number 40 to show they belonged to the guys in group number 40.

The guys looked the girls up and down: Sakura's eyes were red, Ana's bottom lip had bite marks in it, and Maria had fingernail marks in her palms. All three girls were staring blankly at the ground and much to the boy's relief they were silent.

No one said anything for a really long time.

Suddenly Gaara came over to Maria and pulled her up to her feet by her arm rather roughly. She didn't look at him as he pulled back her brown hair, exposing her neck and looking at the new red, swollen mark she had on the back of her neck that was in the shape of the number 40.

Sasuke also went over to Ana to see her's. She was still sitting on her legs as Sasuke came over and leaned over her, pulling her white/silver hair back to look at the mark; it was in the same condition as Maria's.

Then without warning Gaara dragged Maria over to the bathroom door and roughly undid the rope that was hanging on her side.

Ana and Sakura where now alarmed as was Maria as she said tried to push Gaara off of her, "What are you…hey!" she yelled at him.

After taking off the rope, Gaara opened the bathroom door and pushed Maria inside, "I'd get that in some water before it swells up too much," he replied going to sit on the couch.

Sasuke nodded to Ana and Sakura to go into the bathroom too, to get a bath and to let their necks soak for a while.

As soon as the bathroom door shut behind them, they let out a breath.

"For a minute there I thought you were a goner," Sakura confessed to Maria.

Maria nodded, "Yeah me too."

Ana rushed over to the large wooden tub that was filled with hot water and stuck her head down a bit and pulled back her hair then scooped up water with her hands and put it on the back of her neck.

She let out a sigh; "Even though it's hot it's better then nothing."

Sakura and Maria went over and did it too. Then later they all got undressed and got in to the tub to soak.

Once settled in Sakura said, "I guess we haven't really been introduced so…I'm Sakura," she replied smiling at the other two girls.

"Maria," Mariah said.

"Ana," Ana answered.

"So I guess were gonna be here for a while together," replied Maria.

Ana nodded, "Yeah I guess so," she said, "Can't believe we have to stay here though…this place is disgusting."

Sakura nodded in agreement, "Yes but at least we got guys that can control themselves," she said, "out of all these guys too. Yeah I'd say we lucked out on this one."

The girls talked for a while longer getting to know each other better, then they got out and got into their sleeping cloths.

When they walked out into the main room they came to another problem: the guys were asleep and they didn't know where they were supposed to sleep.

"Typical," Ana replied sighing.

"Well I guess we can just sleep in here…" Maria suggested.

"Sure but…what about blankets and pillows?" Sakura asked.

Ana shrugged, "Guess we go without."

"Actually, I think I'm gonna ask Naruto…" Sakura replied going over to Naruto's bedroom door and opening it quietly. Naruto was lying in his bed asleep, lightly snoring and a little bit drooling.

"Pssst…hey Naruto," Sakura whispered into the room. Naruto slightly stirred. "Naruto…"Sakura said again only in a regular voice but he still didn't wake up.

Maria was tired and didn't fell like dealing with this, she walked up next to Sakura and pushed the door open wider, "Naruto!" she yelled angrily.

The once sleeping boy sat straight up, "What? What is it?" he asked looking franticly around the room.

Maria stood in the doorway with her hand on her hip, "Are you forgetting something?" she asked.

Naruto squinted at then since they where in the only light that was penetrating his dark room, he put his hands in front of his eyes to protect them, "Ah…don't think so why? Is that why you woke me up?"

Ana sighed annoyingly as she walked up next to the other two girls, "You don't give us a place to sleep, but are you at least gonna give us some blankets and pillows so we can make our own beds or what," she replied.

"Oh right, my bad," a sleepy Naruto yawned as he slowly got out of bed and reached under his bed and pulled three blankets and pillows out, "here," he replied before crawling back into bed and falling right back asleep.

The girls took the pillows and blankets and went back into the living room.

"Um, so who gets the couch?" Maria asked.

Ana thought for a minute, "Sakura you're the youngest right? I think you should get the couch first," she suggested. Maria nodded in agreement.

"Alright, thanks guys," Sakura yawned grabbing her blanket and pillow and settling down on the couch.

Ana and Maria set up their beds on the floor. Maria crawled into her homemade bed while Ana got up to blow out the fire that was burning on sticks on the walls. When she got to the last one Sakura stopped her, "Um, can we maybe leave that one burning? I really don't like pitch black…" she confessed a little embarrassed.

Ana smiled, "Of course," she answered then let the last one burn as she crawled into her bed and fell right asleep hoping tomorrow would be a better day.

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Yay, Yay, Yay! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter and yeah I might have a little too fast…sorry bout that! Next chapter some other characters come in form the show and the girls get a little too much from them, also every kinda gets to know each other more too. So plz review and tell me what you think so far, and now I'm off the update 'Just Wanna Be Me'! Until next time!

---rayluva4

P.S. if anybody has any ideas of how I could fit another character in there please tell me cause I might just do that…


	4. Getting To Know You

Hey, hey! Here's the next chapters…don't own nothin. Oh and guess what? I added some Ocs! So enjoy! Oh and I'm really sorry for the late update…there was a big storm here and all the power went out, some people got it right back but we didn't have it for 4 days! Yeah I no…it was pretty hot outside too, but it wasn't too bad. But anyway power is back on so here's the next chapter! YAY!

**KidManga **– lol ok here's the next chapie…so were you right! Lol thanks for the review! Till next time!

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE**- thanks for the review! Here's the next chapter and thanks again for telling people about my stories!

Chapter 2 – Getting to Know You 

Sakura was the first one up the next morning; or so she thought. Just as she got up from her laying position on the couch to stretch and rub the sleep from her eyes, Naruto came casually walking out of his room.

"Morning," Sakura yawned.

Naruto looked over at her, "Hey," he said back. Naruto then opened the bathroom door and disappeared inside.

Sakura looked over at her two sleeping friends and lightly giggled at the sight: Ana was lying on her stomach sleeping, her waist long white hair seemed to be everywhere, especially in her face. Maria was also still asleep; she was all tangled up in her blankets and laying in a way that didn't look very comfortable to Sakura but didn't seen to bother Maria since she was sleeping soundly.

Suddenly Gaara came out from his room; he didn't even look at Sakura or the other two girls as he made his way to the bathroom door. Sakura noticed that he was only wearing p.j. bottoms, showing off his firm chest and stomach, she felt her stomach do a small flip.

Gaara banged on the door, "Naruto you better not take all fucking day in there!" he yelled at the door. From where Sakura was sitting she could here a faint, 'Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on,' coming from inside the bathroom.

Gaara turned on his heels and headed straight for his room. He still didn't look at Sakura and she didn't think he was going to say anything to her, so it surprise her when he did, "Wake those two up…all three of you have to be in the kitchen to make breakfast in 20 minutes," he replied flatly. Sakura didn't even have time to nod because he disappeared into his room shutting the door behind him.

Sakura sighed getting up to wake her two friends. She went over to Ana first, she bent down next to her and softly shook her, "Hey Ana…you need to get up," Sakura said gently.

Ana barley stirred, "5 more minutes," she moaned grabbing her blankets and pulling them over her head.

Sakura sighed and went over to Maria to try her, "It's-" she started to say but Maria cut her off, "What Ana said," she groaned not moving but falling back asleep.

Sakura let out a defeated sigh and that's when she looked up to notice that Sasuke was leaning on the frame of his bedroom door with his arms folded across his bare chest with only his p.j. bottoms on; and amused look was on his face.

Sakura's heart pretty much stopped, "_These guys have got to keep their shirts on before my eyes pop out of my head or I die from my heart stopping so many times," _she thought, "_We just had to get the one's with the great bodies_," she smirked evilly.

Naruto suddenly came out of the bathroom, he looked at Sakura who was gawking at Sasuke; Naruto could now feel jealously rising in his throat, "_That's my girl and does he_ _think he can steal her? Well think again Sasuke_!" he thought staring Sasuke down.

Sasuke looked over to see Naruto glaring at him, he pretty much knew what he was thinking "Calm down loser, I'm not out here for her," he replied calmly motioning toward Sakura then he turned his gaze back at the two still sleeping girls.

Naruto clamed down a bit when he turned his head and realized just what Sasuke was looking at: there in front of him was Ana and Maria on the floor, still sleeping; Ana's hair everywhere and Maria tangled in her blankets. Naruto felt a smile tug at the side of his lips as he looked at them.

"Having trouble," he smirked at Sakura who nodded helplessly.

"I have an idea then…" Naruto replied going over beside the sleeping Ana and crouching down next to her.

Gaara had just come out of his room to hear Naruto's last comment and lightly chuckled at the thought of Naruto coming up with an idea. Naruto shot him a dirty look, which Gaara returned only twice as dirty; Naruto ignored him as he returned to his plan he had.

Naruto looked at Ana from his crouching position beside her, he smirked evilly then winked at Sakura who was right beside him, "Nah, I don't think it would be a good idea to tell Ana what Sasuke did to her last night while she was sleeping," he said rather loudly.

Sasuke gave him a dirty look. But what was said seemed to do the trick because as soon as he said that, Ana sat straight up, wide awake and eyes wide in alert, "What!" she screamed her hair sticking up in different places.

Naruto started to laugh uncontrollably and from all the noise Maria was up, she jerked forward, "What? What's going on? Who's screaming?" she asked, eyes darting around the room. Her hair was also like Ana's; beyond messy.

Naruto was still laughing when Maria looked over. Once Ana realized Naruto had just lied to her she glared daggers at him and grabbed her pillow and pressed it against her face, frustrated "I hate you Naruto!" she screamed into the pillow.

Naruto finally calmed down, "Yeah I know," he replied getting up. Ana took the pillow from her face and hit Naruto with it.

"Alright guys I think that's enough…your up so we really need to get moving," Sakura said.

"Why? What's the rush?" Maria asked.

"You three have to be in the kitchen in 15 minutes to make breakfast…if you're late you get whipped so I'd get your asses moving," Gaara said dully.

"Well can we get cleaned up?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shrugged, "Can you take it in 10 minutes?"

Ana nodded, "I can take it in 5," she answered, the other two girls nodded in agreement and raced off to the wooden tub.

Gaara sighed annoyingly as the door shut in his face just when it was his turn to go into the bathroom.

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5 minutes later the girls came out clean, refreshed, and dressed in their day cloths.

"Try not to ruin the food again," Sasuke told Ana before she walked out the door.

Ana smirked, "Yes master," she replied sarcastically, then all three girls went out the door and headed to the kitchen.

When they got to the kitchen they set to work with all the other women and found out if they were just a minute later then they would have been late.

"I'll help you with breakfast in a minute ok," Maria told Ana, "Yeah me too," Sakura added.

Ana nodded, "Alright, thanks guys."

While Maria and Sakura where running around the kitchen trying to make breakfast, Ana just stood there. "_I feel like a dummy_," she thought looking at everyone else who was hard at work cooking, "_Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try again…_"

Ana picked out a couple eggs and cracked them into a bowel…oops she got a piece of the shell in it, "_Shit_," she replied trying to get it out.

A girl that was next to her heard her and looked over and saw her trying to get the shell out of the bowel. The girl leaned over, "Hey do you need help?" she asked.

Ana turned her head to look at the person who said this. It was a girl who had long blonde hair in a ponytail and dark blue eyes. "Um…yeah actually I do…I'm really not good at this cooking stuff," Ana confessed.

The girl nodded smiling, "Well it does take some getting used to I guess," she said taking Ana's bowel and with one quick swipe of her spoon the shell was out.

Ana looked in her bowel, "Thanks," she replied.

"No problem," the girl smiled warmly, "By the way my name's Ino."

"Ana," Ana answered.

"Well Ana, how about I help you with this," Ino said, "Just follow everything I do."

Ana nodded, but just then Sakura and Maria came over, "Hey were ready to help-"

Maria started to say then saw Ino and stopped, "Who that?"

"This is Ino…she was just gonna help me to-" Ana started to introduce her new friend but Sakura cut her off, "INO!" she yelled hugging the blonde girl.

Ino smiled returning the hug, "Hey Sakura!" she said smiling, "long time no see, huh?"

"Umm, how do you guys know each other?" Maria asked once Sakura let go of Ino.

"We've been friends since we were little but about four mouths ago you disappeared…I thought maybe you were kidnapped or died or something," Sakura said to Ino.

"No I was sent here…because I stole some clothes," Ino confessed.

Sakura's mouth formed an 'O'. "So you've been here for 4 mouths?" Ana asked.

Ino nodded, "Yeah and I got sick of it fast," she sighed.

"Who's in charge of you?" Maria asked.

"I'm in group 14 and I have somebody named Shikamaru," she answered, "He's not like the other guys really, cause he hasn't tried to rape me or anything…he just likes to touch sometimes," she said rolling her eyes.

Suddenly two girls came over next to Ino, "Hey Ino, who are they?" once girl asked that had mid-back, cream brown hair with natural highlights in it. It was up in a high ponytail and the end was braided. She also had bright green eyes with silver specks.

"Oh hey guys this is Ana, Sakura and Maria," Ino introduced. "And these are my roommates Siyra," she said pointing to the one with cream brown hair, "and this is Mira," she said motioning over to the other girl with white hair that went down to her butt and had red eyes.

Everyone said hi. "Siyra and Mira have the other guys in the group. Mira has Kiba and Siyra has Neji," Ino explained, "The boys don't usually bother them, so we have a pretty good group."

"What group are you all in?" Mira asked.

"Group 40," Maria answered.

Ino's face lit up, "So your in Sasuke's group!" she asked excitedly, "Which one of you has Sasuke?"

"I do," Ana grumbled.

"Really! Wow I'm so jealous!" Ino replied.

"He's an asshole," Ana said.

"But a hot one!" Ino answered. Ana just smiled and shook her head at the girl.

"So that means you guys are new?" Siyra asked.

"Yeah, we got here yesterday," Sakura answered. Ino, Mira, and Siyra nodded.

"Hey guys, I suggested we stop talking now and make breakfast before we get our asses kicked," Mira replied. They all nodded.

"But Mira could you please help Ana with her breakfast? I told her I would be I really wanna catch up with Sakura," Ino explained.

Mira nodded and went over to Ana, while Sakura and Ino went to talk and cook and so did Maria and Siyra only somewhere else.

At first Ana and Mira didn't say anything to each other, Ana just copied what Mira did to her food.

"So…how did you get here?" Ana asked Mira breaking the silence.

Mira at first hesitated but decided it wouldn't hurt to tell Ana, "Once my family died I was bought by a roman general as a sex slave…so yeah been through this kinda stuff once," she explained.

Ana laughed.

"Well unlike the guy I have now, Kiba, the roman general really could not keep is hands to himself so I got sick of it one day and broke his arm," Mira continued, "So I was sent here."

Ana smirked, "Serves him right! If he can't keep his hands to himself then he doesn't need them."

Mira nodded smiling, "exactly what I thought."

The two girls continued to stir and cut food.

"So I guess then it's a good thing Kiba doesn't touch you," Ana replied.

"Yeah he doesn't. He just likes to talk big and threaten me but I know there just empty threats," Mira answered, "What about Sasuke? He doesn't try anything, does he?"

Ana shook her head, "No, he doesn't really care if he had women or not…I think there's something else to him just not sure what."

"Yeah he does seem like that sometimes…just thinking to himself and quite most the time except for when he picks on Naruto which is always fun to watch," Mira laughed.

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While Ino and Sakura where catching up and Ana and Mira where off bonding, Maria and Siyra were doing a little talking themselves.

"So you got stuck with Gaara huh?" Siyra asked, "He doesn't seem like he would be too bad."

Maria shook her head, "He's not at all, he doesn't ever try anything…he barely ever talks," she answered.

Siyra smiled warmly, "Don't worry he's always been that way…he's a little like Neji because Neji doesn't really talk to much either," she explained.

"Well I guess it's better that they don't talk then rape you everyday," Maria laughed, Siyra smiled and nodded in agreement.

"So what got you here in the first place?" Maria asked stirring some eggs.

Siyra took a deep breath, "I had a step father that was mean and abusive so when I was 9 and my brother, Kirro, was 13 we ran away. We joined various gangs in which we stole, and raided places, and actually at one point I was an assassin but I really didn't like that so I went back to robbery quickly. My mother was very supportive of us though and sent us letters, but when my stepfather found out he killed my mother and then went to look for my brother and me. My stepfather was actually the one who caught Kirro, who was 19 at the time, and turned him in," Siyra frowned, "I don't know if Kirro's dead or in jail but once he was captured I disappeared into hiding, not sure what to do. Later I was captured and ended up here."

"I'm so sorry," Maria replied thinking about her own brother, "That musta been hard."

"Well I'm slowly getting over it," Siyra said sadly. "So what about you?"

Maria then told her everything about her family and why she was here. (Sorry I don't fell like writing it all down right now because I'm gonna write it down later and if I did it now I'd just be repeating myself. So Maria's history is later in the chapter!)

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After making breakfast the girls went their separate ways but promised each other they'd meet up and talk some more when they were making lunch.

Maria, Ana, and Sakura headed under the Coliseum and back to their room were the boys were waiting for their food.

When they got into the room they called for the guys to get their food. Naruto was already waiting on the couch for them, and Gaara came out of his room. Maria and Sakura gave them their food and then sat down to eat theirs.

5 minutes later, Sasuke came out of the bathroom from taking a bath and went over to the table and sat down.

"Here your highness," Ana replied setting down his plate, then sitting down herself to eat.

Sasuke looked at the food for a minute then said, "Ok what'd you do to it? It's not brown or black…it actually looks decent."

"We met some friends today, and one of them named Mira helped Ana to cook," Sakura explained.

"What group were they from?" Naruto asked.

"Group 14," Maria responded, "There was Ino, Mira, and Siyra."

Naruto smirked, "So they're with Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, right?" he asked, "Wow I feel sorry for them."

"Why's that?" Ana asked, "They're just like you guys…they treat the girls with some respect."

Naruto shrugged, "Shikamaru is a lazy bum, Neji is a grouch ass, and Kiba's little dog he carries around never shuts up. That's why."

"All three of them are probably better then you," Maria stated. The other two girls laughed and nodded in agreement.

Naruto glared at them, his face becoming red with anger, "Do you realized who your talking to? IF I wanted I could-"

"Empty threats," Ana replied waving him off. Naruto growled.

Sasuke shrugged, "She's right…you know you'd never do anything to any one of them with their permission."

Gaara nodded. Naruto huffed.

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After eating breakfast the girls put the dishes by the door to pick up when they went up to make lunch, then they started to clean the rooms.

The guys got ready for training then left.

The next few hours for the girls consisted of sweeping the dirt floors which was impossible, making beds, putting dirty cloths in baskets by the door to clean later, and straightening up the place.

Soon they had to head up to the kitchen again to make lunch. They picked up the dishes by the door and left to go to the kitchen where they met Ino, Mira, and Siyra and made lunch together.

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After making lunch they went down to their rooms where they found that the guys had just gotten back from training all sweaty and smelly.

"Eww…god you guys smell," Sakura replied scrunching up her face.

"Well get used to it princess," Naruto countered.

Once everyone was done with lunch the guys changed into different training gear and gave the smelly ones to the girls to clean, and then they left for more hours of training.

Maria sighed once they left and held out Gaara's cloths away from her then put them in his dirty cloths basket, "If this is going to be the rest of my life…I think I might kill myself," she replied.

Ana nodded putting Sasuke's cloths in his basket, "Yeah me too," then she turned to Sakura, "You can do the honors."

"No I'll be dead too…guess we'll have to get one of the guys to do it then," Sakura said.

Maria shook her head, "No way, they're not worthy," she laughed.

The girls then picked up the dishes and picked up their baskets. They put one side of the basket on their hips then put they're free hand on the other side and walked up to the kitchen to put the dishes away then they went to the laundry room.

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Once in the laundry room they sat around a big tub filled with soap with about 20 other girls sitting around it too, talking to one another. Siyra, Mira, and Ino were there as well, so the girls got to work, washing and talking till it was almost time to make dinner.

Maria, Ana and Sakura picked up the clean clothes, put them back into the baskets and carried them back to their room where they put them away and headed up stairs to make dinner.

The guys still weren't back yet; they were still training. The girls guessed they wouldn't be back till dinner was ready.

When the girls got up to the kitchen they didn't see Mira, Siyra, or Ino.

"Guess they're busy or something," Sakura suggested.

Maria nodded then said, "Ana I'll help you this time."

Ana shook her head; "It's ok. I want to try to make something myself."

Maria nodded and the three of them got to work, talking as they cooked.

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Once the girls were almost done and were just putting the finishing touches on the food, Ana felt somebody come up behind her and snake their arms around her waist.

Ana thought it was her master, "Get off Sasuke," she growled.

"Sasuke huh? So that bastard is in charge of you…this should be fun," came a voice that belonged to the person behind her. Ana whipped around to come face to face with a guy at least a head taller then her and defiantly more build then her. The guy had short black hair and dark eyes, and he also had half his face wrapped in cloth so you could barely see it.

"Who the hell are you?" Ana asked glaring at him, trying to push him off her.

The guy smirked, "My name is Zabuza…and that one over there is Orochimaru."

Suddenly as if on cue a guy with long black hair and dark eyes with slits as pupils came up to Maria, who was next to Ana, and put an arm around her.

Maria slapped his arm off her, but as soon as she did that he put his arms around her waist and tightened his hold on her. No matter how hard she tried to get him off her, he was much bigger then she was.

"We don't give a fuck who you are," Maria growled at both the guys.

"Oh I think you do," Orochimaru replied smirking.

"Yeah and why's that?" Ana spat, "You too look like hornballs to me."

Zabuza laughed, "You haven't seen my moves yet, sweetheart," he replied, "They're better then any Sasuke's made on you, I promise."

"To tell you the truth I'd rather be with him any day. Besides he wouldn't do anything like that to me without my permission," Ana hissed.

Orochimaru turned to Maria who he still had a hold of, "What about you, love? Which half-wit has you…Naruto or Gaara?"

"Gaara, and one thing I know about him is that he smells better then you… it's called a bath," Maria replied making a face.

"Zabuza you don't exactly smell like a basket of roses either…especially your breath," Ana replied.

Zabuza glared at her, "I'll show you not to talk to me like that and I'll show you how much better I can be then Sasuke," he growled tightening his hold on her then dragging her off in the opposite direction.

Ana started screaming, "Let me go damn it!" she yelled over and over again struggling to get away but he easily over powered her being more muscular, he continued to drag her off.

Sakura who had be watching the whole thing went to get help.

Maria looked at her friend wide eyes as she was being carried away, "Ana!" she screamed running to her but Orochimaru caught her, "Your staying here," he replied.

Maria struggled to get out of his hold and punched his chest over and over again, "Let me go!" she yelled, "Where is he taking her!"

Orochimaru smirked, "Back to our room, but don't worry once their done it's our turn."

Maria started to panic for herself and for Ana as she watched her friend being dragged off.

Ana kicked and screamed. She looked around; no one was even making an effort to try to help her, besides Maria that is. Sakura was gone and all the girls in the kitchen didn't even look up, they wanted no part in this, and this kind of thing happened almost everyday.

This made Ana's blood boil. She moved her head and bit down hard on Zabuza's hand, which was around her neck.

Zabuza yelled in pain while Ana took this time to take off…but he was faster. He grabbed her by the arm, slapped her then pushed her into a wall. Her back hit the solid wall hard, and Zabuza pinned her to it so she couldn't escape. He grabbed both her wrists and pinned them with one hand above her head, and then he put his other hand on her waist and pushed down to keep her in one place. Her left thigh was trapped between his two thighs.

Zabuza pressed his body against her, crushing her, "What makes you think you can get away from me?" he asked angrily, crushing her more and tightening his hold on her wrists, making them turn red.

Ana struggled to breathe right; he was really starting to hurt her.

Soon Zabuza's anger faded a little and a smile appeared on his face. He took the hand that was on her hip and slowly started to move upward, feeling her body.

Ana realized what was going on and struggled to get away but his body was to heavy for hers. That's when she noticed it; something hard was rubbing up against her thigh and it was coming from in-between Zabuza's legs.

Ana's face got red, "_Holy shit you gotta me kidding me! Disgusting_!" she thought.

Zabuza's hand went farther up and his face got closer to hers. Ana turned her face as much as she could to the side and closed her eyes tightly and waited for his lips to touch hers.

But it never came. She opened her eyes to see Zabuza, who was inches from her face but his eyes were wide. Ana looked to the side to see a knife jammed into the wall, which would have been right in between their faces.

She looked to the other side to see the three guys she thought she'd never be happier to see: Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto. Sakura was there too; she was behind Naruto

Gaara walked up to Orochimaru with an angry look in his eyes and pushed him off Maria and untangled her from his arms, then grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him, protectively.

"Let go of her," Sasuke demanded looking straight at Zabuza who frozen in his spot still on Ana. Sasuke had been the one that threw the knife in-between their faces to stop Zabuza from kissing Ana.

Zabuza just smirked, "Yeah and what if I don't want to, she's a pretty good catch I wouldn't want to let that go," he replied.

Sasuke walked up to Zabuza and pushed him off her then roughly grabbed Ana by the upper arm and pushed her head forward. He then grabbed her hair and pulled it back revealing the number 40 that was etched into the back of her neck.

"See that? That means she's mine," Sasuke replied angrily letting Ana's hair fall back in place then wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his body.

Ana relaxed at the sudden feeling of warmth from his body; she suddenly felt safe.

"So keep your filthy hands off of what's mine," Sasuke finished leading Ana back to the others. They then took off back to the rooms.

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Once back into the room, Gaara threw Maria on the couch, "What the hell do you think your doing with them," he replied in his same dull tone.

Maria stared at him as if he were crazy, "You think **I** asked for that!" she yelled, "They forced themselves on us!"

As Sasuke and Ana came into the room, Ana started to violently rub her thigh that had been in between Zabuza's thighs; "Eww! I felt it! It was all over my leg!" she screamed making a disgusted face.

Sasuke made a disgusted face, then pushed Ana on the couch next to Maria; "God could you be any more rough?" Ana spat.

Sasuke shot a look at her, "You think that's rough?" he asked, "Your just lucky Sakura came to get us when she did or you would have seen rough with Zabuza…all night."

Maria and Ana huffed and crossed their arms.

Everyone was quite for a minute except for Naruto's stomach growling, "Hey uh we forgot the food…" he said. No one answered him or even looked at him. "Uh alright, I'll go get it…" he said going out the door.

Sakura went to sit on the couch too with her friends, while Gaara and Sasuke dragged themselves over to sit at the table.

It was silent the whole time Naruto was gone; no one said a thing.

Even after Naruto got back no one said anything or even looked at each other throughout dinner. No one barley ate either except for Naruto who was stuffing his face.

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After dinner Naruto decided he couldn't take the silence anymore, "Common guys! Can't you just get over it and talk! The silence is driving me crazy!"

Ana and Maria went over to the couch to sit down, "Why don't you start," Ana replied sitting down.

Naruto nodded, "Alright I have an idea. None of us really know each other so why don't we tell each other a little bit about ourselves," he suggested.

No one made an effort to speak. Naruto rolled his eyes, "Alright fine…I'll start," he growled.

Sasuke and Gaara sighed flipped their chairs backward then sat down on them, and Sakura sat down next to Maria and Ana on the couch.

Naruto stood in the middle of everyone to talk, "Alright, well…I really like Ramen Noodles and I have this scar on my right butt cheek…oh and I have this like second growth on my toe –" he replied holding up his foot to show everyone.

Maria shook her had and held up her hands, "Is that really necessary?" she asked, disgusted.

Naruto shrugged, "Well no one asked for any thing specific," he said.

Sakura slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand; "Oh my god, fine…what got you here in the first place?" she tried asking.

"Me? Well actually I was caught one too many times pulling pranks," Naruto explained, "First I gratified some buildings but when I was caught that was only a warning. Well then I gratified and vandalized some important roman general's house and when I was caught then, I was put in here."

The girls laughed, "Smooth," Ana replied.

Naruto shrugged, "Well now that I'm here I can think of this with the glass half full. I'm gonna become the best gladiator there is so when I get outta here people will know I'm important and they'll respect me…believe it!" he said.

"Interesting…but first Naruto I think your gonna have to get passed Gaara and Sasuke…they look like their stronger," Maria replied.

Naruto glared at her, while Sasuke and Gaara just nodded.

No one said anything next so Sakura decided she'd go, "Well I guess I'll go next," she said, "Ok mine's about as pathetic as Naruto's…my family was running a little low on money and for a while we couldn't afford food. So I stole some money from some rich person but unfortunately they saw me and so these guards came after me. They cornered me and I did the only thing that came to mind; I cursed them out telling them that I needed the money for food and what not. But the cussing didn't really help cause they told me that a girl like me shouldn't say those words and that I needed manners taught to me…so that's why I'm here."

"Sakura cussed soldiers out?" Naruto laughed, "Wow I never thought I'd hear about this."

Sakura glared at him, "Shut it," she hissed.

After that no one said any thing, so Ana decided she'd go, "Ok I guess it's my turn…" she started, "My mother has been really sick for a long time and she can't really do much for herself, no less her family. So I took the responsibility of taking care for her and my two younger sisters, Serenity who is 11 and Cassandra who is 8. I stole food for a while and never got caught but soon I guess people caught on and sent soldiers after me…so I was sent here instead of prison."

"I don't know if my sisters and my mother are doing ok or not, if their getting food or not," Ana confessed, "Serenity is only 11 and Cassie's only 8, but hopefully they'll find some way to manage."

Maria put an arm around Ana, "Don't worry I'm sure they're fine…your mother too. Your sisters probably found a way," she assured her.

Ana nodded, "Thanks."

"So what about your dad…couldn't he take care of them?" Naruto asked confused.

Everyone glared at him; if she didn't say anything about her dad he's probably gone her dead…it's that simple and everyone thought it was really rude and stupid that he would even ask that.

"He died in war a long time ago…" Ana replied, smiling sadly, then she took her necklace out from under her clothes to show everyone. It was crystal blue like her eyes and it was in the shape of a teardrop. "He gave this to me when I was little…I've never taken it off since. It's the only thing the whole family has to remember him by."

Sakura leaned over to look at it more closely, "It's beautiful Ana…it matches your eyes," she complimented. Ana smiled.

"I'll go next," Maria volunteered; hell everyone else was spilling their past, why not her too? "Both my parents died a long time ago, but I do have an older brother. I don't see him much though because he's always traveling around and every time I try to make plans with him, he blows me off for some trip or something else that comes up," she replied angrily. "I was really sad and I guess a little mad about that so I started to steal stuff…mostly gems and gold, to make myself feel better and to pay for other things," she explained, "but eventually I was caught."

Everyone listened closely and when Maria was done no one made a move to go next.

Naruto decided to take charge, "Ok Sasuke and Gaara… you guys haven't went yet," he said.

"Yeah one of you guys go…" Sakura added.

Sasuke shook his head, "No," he replied firmly. Gaara didn't even make a sound; he wasn't going either.

"Common. We all told you what happened to us," Ana said.

"Yeah, we'd like to know a little more about you if were gonna be here for a while," Maria added then she thought of something, "…How long are we gonna be here?"

Sakura spoke up; she knew the answer, "We're hear for as long as they are," she answered pointing to the guys, "And they're here for at least 3 to 5 years."

Ana and Maria's eyes popped out of their heads, "What!" they screamed, "You mean we're here for at least three years?"

Sasuke nodded, "Unless we die in battle then you are assigned to a new group of gladiators and you will stay with them until they are let go unless they die then the cycle starts over," he explained.

Maria sighed, "You have got to be kidding me," he said.

"Alright Sasuke, don't die," Ana told him.

"I don't plan on it," Sasuke responded.

"So what's so special about this place that sets it apart from prison? I think I'd rather be there," Maria said.

Gaara answered this time; "You are put in prison at least 10 years depending on what you did. Here your time is cut in half since you put your life on the line in battle for entertainment purposes," he explained casually. "A gladiator only fights a handful of battles a year and if he is lucky enough to survive those years, his reward is to be set free and he is given a shit load of money for fighting, depending on how popular he was as a fighter. He also receives more respect once he is set free from higher people depending on how strong he was."

The girls nodded.

Naruto was tapping his foot; he was bored with this subject and so he decided to change it, "So Gaara…Sasuke? Are either of you gonna take your turn or not cause I got to get a bath in before bed," he replied.

"Please do," Ana replied.

"Yeah, I really don't want you to smell like Zabuza or Orochimaru," Maria added.

Gaara got up and picked up the dishes and walked out the door to bring them to the kitchen, "Guess he's not gonna say anything," Sakura said, "What about you Sasuke?"

"No," he replied simply going to his room and shutting the door behind him.

"Alright then! Looks like its time to bathe!" Naruto hopped up and went into the bathroom.

Maria sighed, "That's what I was going to do," she replied, hanging her head, "Oh well I'll just wait…he better not take a long time."

"Well all the boys are gone right now so…wanna go hang out in Naruto's room until he's done?" Sakura suggested.

Maria and Ana nodded and they went into his room.

The room, along with both the other bedrooms, was very small. It contained one small bed up against the far wall, a small wooden chest at the end of the bed to put clothes in, a small rug, and broken glass put together to make a small mirror hanging on the wall near the bed. It also had a couple of sticks with fire on the end used as lights around the room.

The girls hopped on top of Naruto's bed and began to talk a little, "Wonder why Sasuke or Gaara won't even tell us a little bit about what happened to them," Sakura wondered.

Ana shrugged, "Guess it must be pretty bad…or maybe they just don't want to talk about it or something," she suggested.

Maria nodded, "I just can't believe though it would be any worse then what any of us said," she replied.

The girls just shrugged and after that no one said anything.

Ana decided to change the subject, "How come we have to sleep on the floor, huh? I mean we're gonna be living here to ya know for quite a while and I really don't want to sleep on the floor all that time," she said.

Maria shrugged, "The guys think they're better then us I guess," she answered.

Ana sighed; she had an idea, "Well I guess I'll just have to tell Sasuke how it is then," she said getting up and walking to the door.

"What are you going to do?" Sakura asked.

"To explain to Sasuke that if he thinks I'm going to sleep on the floor every night then he's crazy," he answered leaving the room.

"Good luck!" Maria yelled after her laughing.

"That's not going to go over to well," Sakura replied, Maria shook her head.

The two girls talked for a little while longer then Maria decided that Naruto must be almost done in the bathroom so she was going to wait for him on the couch out in the living room. Sakura said she'd be out in a second.

Once in the living room, Maria saw that Gaara was back. He was sitting on the couch sharpening a knife; Maria guessed that's what he used to fight with or one of the things he used.

Maria went to sit by him. Neither of them said anything to each other for a while.

Maria sighed, "So how long do you think I have to wait till Naruto's done in there?" she asked.

Gaara didn't look up, he just kept sharpening, "A while," is all he said.

Maria nodded. She waited a while before asking, "So why didn't you want to tell us what happened to you before you came here?"

Gaara suddenly stopped sharpening and glared at her, "Because it's none of your business," he replied bitterly then continued what he was going.

Maria didn't give up; "Actually I think it might be. If I'm going to be here for another 3 to 5 years I think I want to know a little more about the person in charge of me," she countered.

Suddenly Sakura poked her head out of Naruto's bedroom door. She was planning on giving Maria some company while she waited but it looked like she already had some. Sakura saw Gaara and Maria on the couch talking, she smirked, "_Maybe I'll give them a_ _little privacy,"_ she thought going back into Naruto's room to snoop around.

Gaara hesitated after what Maria just said. He didn't really want to tell her but it looked like she wasn't going to leave until he did.

"You know I'm not going to stop bugging you until you tell me," Maria replied casually inspecting her nails.

Gaara sighed annoyingly, "Fine, whatever…From the moment I was born my parents hated me. My mother hated me because she knew she was dying as she gave birth to me and she hated me even more because of the fact that she was being made a sacrifice so I could live. She died cursing me. My name was chosen for me by my mother who wished and believed I was only to fight and live for myself and to love only myself, and by doing so I would live on forever," he explained bitterly. "This was not done out of love for me but rather in hopes that I would live on to carry her grudge. My name...it means 'a demon who only loves himself'. My father hated me too for killing my mother, but let me live because that's what she wanted. As I got older I was secluded from other kids because they were afraid of me and did not want to be near me so instead I taught myself to fight because that's why I was alive. The only friend I ever made was named Yashamaru who I would come to for advice or if I were sad."

Maria listened closely feeling sorry from him by the second.

Gaara continued, "This all changed though when one night some masked person tried to kill me. I was more skilled then this person and I easily defeated them. When I unmasked the person it was Yashamaru who said he was told by my father to kill me. I thought that Yashamaru was forced to attack me but he said that he could have refused the order but he didn't because deep down he had always resented me. Yashamaru told me that on one, not my father, nor my mother had never really loved me; I was an outcast, a failure of a child, and therefore the failure must be destroyed. Yashamaru died that night. After that I began to believe the only reason to live was to love myself and one else," he explained. "Later in life I volunteered to come here knowing I could kill people here without going to prison, and later I would be more respected after I was set free."

Maria was silent; she really didn't know what to say to him, "I'm sorry," she managed to choke out in almost a whisper.

"Don't be," Gaara replied bitterly, "It was nothing to do with you."

"I am Gaara. I really am," Maria insisted, "that's horrible and I'm sorry that it happened to you."

Gaara continued to sharpen his knife, not saying anything.

"But you know," Maria continued, "I'm sure there are people who care…like Sasuke and Naruto. Sure maybe they don't show it often but all of you are in this together. And us girls too…we haven't been here very long but if you guys keep showing us respect then we're going to start becoming friends and caring what happens to you boys," Maria reasoned. "And you know talking wouldn't hurt either. You can make more friends that way, people who will support you when you need it," she said.

Gaara laughed bitterly, "I don't need support," he responded looking at her now.

Maria almost laughed at that but held it in, knowing it would only make him mad, "I think you'll find more times then you'd like, when you need someone," she said.

Just then Naruto came out of the bathroom and went into his room. Just as soon as he walked in there, Maria could hear Naruto asking what Sakura was doing in his room; Maria smiled at that.

Maria got up saying to Gaara, "Besides, talking a little more can't make your life anymore harder then it already is…I mean you just told me your life story and your still standing right? So it really wasn't that hard…" she replied winking at him then disappearing into the bathroom.

Gaara stared at the spot Maria once was; for one of the few times in his life he was confused. Not because of what he should do but because of this girl; she really confused him, he really didn't understand her or why she would even care about him. He was supposed to be the dreaded gladiator that owned her and could do as he pleased with her, right?

Gaara shook these thoughts from his head and went into his room to sleep.

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Mean while when Naruto walked into his room after taking a bath he found Sakura there.

"What are you doing in my room?" he asked.

"Nothing," Sakura replied, "Just looking around."

Naruto smirked; "Right…I know why you're in here…" he smiled.

Sakura's eyes widened, "No! I know what your thinking and it's no," she almost screamed, "I was going to go out in the living room but Maria and Gaara were talking and I didn't want to interrupt."

Naruto's face fell a bit, "Oh well, they're gone. As soon as I came out of the bathroom Maria went in and Gaara went back to his room," he said, "But you should have seen the confused look on Gaara's face when Maria left. Gaara was actually confused about something…the look was priceless," he laughed.

Sakura wondered for a minute what they couldn't have been talking about then she said, "Alright well if their gone then I'm gonna go…" she replied getting up and going to the door.

"You know if you want you can sleep in here…next to me," Naruto smirked.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so, Naruto," she said.

Once in the living room, Sakura started to set up her bed on the floor; today it was Maria's turn on the couch. Sakura was starting to wonder what was going on in Sasuke's room…Ana had been in there quite a long time. "_I wonder…no, no way_," she thought.

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(Remember that Ana went to see Sasuke before Maria went to the living room and talked Gaara, so the following is taking place while Maria and Gaara are talking.)

Ana slowly opened Sasuke's bedroom door. Inside it was dark so she left the door open a little to see.

Ana walked into the room to see a sleeping Sasuke on a small bed. As she got closer she could see that Sasuke was lying on his back, his head was facing the opposite direction, and he had his shirt off exposing to Ana his bare back since the blankets were only pulled up to his butt.

Ana took in a breath when she saw his slightly tan, bare back; his muscles perfectly visible, "_Oh god_," she thought, "_that isn't gonna make this any easier_."

She got closer to the bed until she was feet from it; Sasuke stirred as she approached. "What do you want," he growled, his head still not facing her.

Ana jumped, a little surprised, "_How'd he know_?" she wondered.

When Ana didn't respond to his question, Sasuke rolled over to face her and propped himself up on his elbow.

Ana stared at him; his perfectly sculpted chest was now in full view. She just stared at him, blushing a bit but not saying anything but secretly wondering how many hours of training it took to get muscles like that. They weren't like huge or anything but they were perfect for his size, and it defiantly turned Ana on.

"What. Do. You. Want?" he asked again only this time saying the words slow. He smirked to himself when he saw that Ana was staring at his body and that she looked a bit nervous and she was blushing a bit. He liked putting her in that position, her eyes reminded him of a little kid sometimes: innocent but cute and also mesmerizing at times. Sasuke looked at her crystal blue eyes; he liked the way she looked at him with those eyes. "_Those eyes, they're so beautif– no I can't think that…I'm here for one reason and it's not to mess with girls…can't believe I started to think that in the first place_" he thought.

Ana snapped back to reality when she saw that Sasuke was smirking, "I'm tired of sleeping on the floor," she replied.

Sasuke stared at her for a minute, "What?"

"I'm TIRED of sleeping on the FLOOR," she said louder, "I'm gonna be here for another 3 to 5 years and if you think I'm gonna sleeping the floor every night, your nuts."

"Then sleep the couch," Sasuke said simply.

Ana rolled her eyes; "There are three other girls here… so I get the couch every 3 days," she replied annoyingly, "so why don't you just go sleep on the floor and I'll sleep in the bed."

Sasuke sighed annoyingly and loudly while scratching the back of his head for a minute. "Look this is MY room and MY bed. So I'm gonna give you one of three choices: you can either stand there all night and yap, you can go sleep on the floor in the living room and quite complaining, or you can sleep in this bed but I'm gonna be right in here too cause I'm not going to move," he said stubbornly. He wasn't going to let some girl push him around when actually he was in charge of her.

Ana huffed and crossed her arms over her chest making her chest stick out more since the night clothes she wore were low cut and hung off the shoulders. Sasuke noticed this and his eyes slowly moved down to her chest. As soon as they got there though he averted his eyes back up, "_No! God what wrong with me!_" he thought annoyingly, looking back up at her face.

"_What is this guys problem_!" Ana thought, "_Does he really think he can push me around all the time! Well actually he can… but I know he'd never try something without my say_ _so…_" Ana smirked, she had just thought of something, "_But that's my advantage here…he won't do anything to me so why not sleep in the same bed? Oh Sasuke you_ _never should have told me that you wouldn't lay a finger on me…_" she thought evilly.

Ana smiled at Sasuke, "Ok scoot over…I'm sleeping in here," she said coming closer to the bed.

Sasuke froze; it took a while for that information to sink in, "_What? She's not backing down? I thought for sure she's be disgusted by the thought of sleeping here with me and_ _turn right around and sleep on the floor_," he thought_, "Damn this girl's stubborn…and now I_ _have to sleep with her in this tiny bed…great job Sasuke_."

"Well move over," Ana demanded when Sasuke didn't move.

He groaned and moved over to the other side of the bed, which wasn't very far.

Ana crawled in and snuggled up under the blankets, turning her back to Sasuke while he turned his back on her. The bed was so tiny since it was only made for one person; they were only inches apart.

Ana sighed happily, "Now isn't this nice," she joked trying to annoy Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked, "Yeah I mean 'your such a good catch, I wouldn't want to let that go'," he said imitating Zabuza.

"Oh my god," she whispered bitterly, _"Great that didn't work_," she thought turning over and slapping his bare back.

Sasuke laughed to himself when he heard her whisper, 'oh my god', "_Nice try but it didn't_ _work,"_ he thought to her. When she turned around to slap him, it just made him think it was even more funny since it didn't hurt really.

"Ow," Ana thought, "_I think that hurt my hand more then it hurt him…damn those nice_ _back muscles."_ Sasuke turned on his stomach and tried to get comfortable while Ana moved as close to the side as she could get without falling off and neither one of them said anything to each other. Ana didn't really like the awkward silence; it was staring to drive her nuts; "So you wanna tell me how you got here now?" she tried. 

"No," came the reply.

"Common," Ana urged, "No one else is listening but me…and besides I think I have a right to know since I'm here for YOU," she said saying the last part sarcastically.

Sasuke sighed; she wasn't going to leave him alone was she? What made it worst was she was sleeping right next to him so he was going to get zero sleep unless she knew.

"I had a family once," Sasuke started, "A mother, a father, and an older brother…even a whole village. My family was the head of this village, which was located on the outskirts of this town. It was made up of a lot of our relatives and some that had no relations to us, but it was a village none the less. My older brother, Itachi, was defiantly someone to look up to being the youngest in our village ever to master all the techniques of fighting at the amazing age of 8, and I did look up to him a lot. I would spend hours watching him train so I could someday be like him," he replied coldly. "But all of this changed when he turned 10. That night he slaughtered the entire village…he killed its people…his relatives, even his own parents. But…he didn't kill me; probably for his own twisted reasons. Maybe it was because he didn't want the guilt of killing us all, or maybe it as because he wanted me to grow up to be just like him…I don't know. But after that I was on my own; I trained all the time hoping someday I could be as strong as Itachi and I stole things like food and clothes too. It worked for me for a couple years then I was caught and put in here," Sasuke explained, "But now that I'm here I can get more training and I can become stronger so when I get outta here I can hunt Itachi down and kill that bastard."

Ana frowned, "Wow…that's horrible. I can't believe your brother did that," she said sadly, "but are you sure revenge is the best thing…?"

"Ana…he killed my family right in front of me and I watched them die, helpless to do anything," Sasuke said, "I suffer everyday knowing that I wasn't strong enough to save the ones I loved. Before Itachi left after he killed them, he even had the heart to tell me that I wasn't worth killing. But I'm gonna show him that it was a mistake to spare my life that night…I will avenge my family."

"I'm sorry," Ana whispered, "I understand."

"You happy now? Can I go to sleep?" Sasuke asked coldly.

Ana snuggled deeper in the blankets; she suddenly felt really cold, "Yeah…" she replied softly, "…thanks."

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Phew! That was extremely long! I think that's the longest chapter I've ever made outta all my stories! Well I hoped you enjoyed it cause it took forever to type thank you. And I hope I did all the Ocs right…tell me if I didn't though. Oh and **KidManga **I'm sorry I didn't fit your character in…plz tell me if you have any ideas on how to squeeze her in!

Thanks to everyone!

---rayluva4


	5. Punishments

hey i'm finally going to update! Woot woot! sory it's so late thought...school sucks...yeah.

disclaimer.

**KidManga- **Thank You!

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE- **Thank You!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix- **lol glad you like it so much...ya those two are pretty gross lol. Thanks for the review!

**Chapter 5: Punishment**

Sasuke woke up the next morning to the nice feeling of a warm body next to him. He slowly opened his eyes to see Ana sleeping peacefully right next to him...or maybe more **on **him. Sasuke eyes shot open for a minute but then he relaxed and remembered that she had come in there last night to complain. Sasuke looked down at her; she was laying on her side, facing him. Since he was lying on his back, her head was resting on his chest and her arm was around his middle. Sasuke soon realized that his arm was around her shoulders.

_"She must have moved while she was sleeping," _he thought.

Sasuke tried to remove his arm from around her knowing that if she woke up like this he would get an ear full of her shouting, but as soon as he started to move it, Ana stirred.

_"Shit...if I wake her up she's gonna flip then I have to listen to her yell at me all morning," _he told himself.

Sasuke had nothing else to do but wait till someone came in and woke her up themselves; better them then him...they could have Ana yelling at them all morning but Sasuke wanted no part in that. It would make Sasuke day's if it was Naruto that woke her up...he would love to see Naruto suffer from ear damage.

So having nothing else to do, Sasuke tried to go back to sleep. He started to focuse on Ana's steady breathing which soon relaxed him. He looked down at Ana; she looked beautiful, he thought just lying there sleeping. For once her hair wasn't everywhere and she acually looked to be in a comfortable postion; she looked perfect.

Sasuke soon found himself staring at her face for a long time and feeling very comfortable with her warm feeling on his body. He finally fell alseep.

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Sakura was woken up by the sound of the bathroom door shuting. She yawned and stretched as she sat up in her small bed. Sakura then looked over at Maria who was of course still sleeping and, as yesterday, she looked like a mess.

Garra suddenly came out of his room, clothes in his arms, ready to get a bath. Naruto had just gone in there though and as usual Garra would have to wait...you could tell he wasn't a patient person either. Garra looked over at Maria, "Get her up," he instructed Sakura grumpily then walked back to his room.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "_Since when am I the one who gets to wake up the sleeping rock everyday..."_ she thought.

Today though Maria wasn't that hard to get up. After Sakura had shook her and told her to get up, all she did was groan a little but eventally got up.

Maria sat up slowly and looked around with her half closed eyes. Because she had just gotten up her mind was a little slow this morning and it took her a while to realize something was missing.

"Where's Ana?" she asked groggily.

Naruto who had just gotten out of the bathroom and had heard this, answered, "I don't know...I don't remember seeing her before I went to bed last night..." he said.

"She went in Sasuke's room," Garra answered flatly coming out of his room.

Something clicked in Maria's mind, she snapped her fingers, "That's right. She told us she was tired of sleeping on the floor and she was going to tell Sasuke..." she replied now wide awake.

"Yeah I remember...but I really didn't think she would convice Sasuke to let her sleep on the bed," Sakura said, "must have though cause she never came out."

"But neither did Sasuke..." Sakura said suspicously.

Naruto thought for a minute, "You don't think..."

"No way," Maria cut him off, "Ana would never to that with Sasuke and I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't do that with her either...they like hate each other...uh right?"

All four teens looked at each other.

Naruto was the first to dash to Sasuke's closed bedroom door, followed by Maria then Sakura. Gaara calmly walked up behind them; he was a little curious himself.

Naruto slowly opened the bedroom door and didn't stop pushing it open till it was all the way back. Light poured into the dark bedroom and what the four teens saw made them speechless.

Before them, in the small bed at the other end of the room were two figures: Ana and Sauke.

Sasuke was lying on his back with his arm around Ana, while Ana had her head on Sasuke's chest with her arm around his middle; both were sleeping. But the fact that Sasuke was without a shirt and Ana's p.js were alittle twisted, didn't help what was running through the four teen's minds.

None of them said anything for a long time; they just stared, mouths open wide.

Maria was the first to say something, "I'm positve they just moved around a little during the night," she reasoned to the rest of the group, "I mean, it is a really tiny bed."

Naruto laughed, "Yeah right! Look at the way they're holding each other! I say it mens something..." he said. He was really getting a kick out of this knowing how embarresed Sasuke would be when he found out everyone knew.

"What the hell do you know?" Maria glared at him.

"Yeah since when are you the expert?" Sakura added.

Naruto opened his mouth to sat something sarcasstic but Garra beat him to it, "Naruto I don't even want to hear it so keep out big mouth shut," he said cooly.

Naruto stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest.

Sasuke, who was sleeping, woke from all the noise. He slowly lifted his head to look at the intruders.

Apon seeing some kind of movement in the room, the four teens turned their heads to see an annoyed Sasuke looking back at them; his hair slightly messy.

"What the hell did you do?" Naruto whispered loudly from across the small room

Sasuke stared at him, _"Great," _he thought, _"Now they all think I did Ana last night."_

Sasuke then carefully removed his arm from Ana's shoulders and gently moved her head off his chest and surprisingly he managed to not wake up the sleeping girl. Then he carefully climbed over Ana and made his way to the four people grouped at his bedroom door.

As he got closer, Sasuke saw that Maria had her hand on her hip and was glaring at him with fire in her eyes, "What the fuck did you do to Ana? I swear if you hurt her I'll kick your ass."

"No lies either," Sakura added with the same intensity.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Your both idiots, chill," he said, "Nothing happened last night. Ana came in to complain about sleeping on the floor so I gave her a couple options. One of which was to stay in here but I warned her that I wasn't leaving. She was too stubborn to leave and stayed in here...my plan back fired in my face basically."

Naruto started to laugh, "Now who's the loser!"

Sasuke held up a fist, "Still you," he threatened.

Naruto looked like he was just about to punch Sasuke but Sakura cut in just in time, "No fighting boys," she said firmly, "What we need to do now is get Ana up so we can go cook breakfast without getting beat...literally."

Naruto jumped at the chance, "Oh! I'll get her up!" he said running over to the bed with an evil smirk.

"Oh boy," Gaara replied rolling his eyes.

Sasuke smirked, "Rather him then anyone else."

Naruto loomed over the sleeping Ana, "I can't believe you did Ana last night Sasuke! You should be ashamed!" Naruto said loudly by Ana's ear.

Ana didn't even stirred.

"Sorry Naruto I think that only works once," Sakura laughed.

Naruto didn't want to give up though, he tryed agin, "What's that you said? Ana might be pregnant!" Naruto exclaimed.

A loud, angry growl was head coming from Ana, "Will you stop already?" she asked groggily, "Your making me sick."

Naruto smiled triumphantly and proudly stuck up his nose and walked by Sasuke to leave the room. Sasuke stuck out his foot and tripped Naruto so he tumbled into the next room.

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"Wow, I was that close to him?" Ana was asking, "I didn't even realize it."

Ana, Sakura, and Maria were all in the kitchen making breakfast and talking with Mira, Ino, and Siyra.

"Yeah you guys were like on top of each other," Maria smirked.

"It was so cute though," Sakura added.

Ino pouted, "Your so lucky," she told Ana, "I'm so jealous."

Ana snorted, "Don't be..." she said and then thought for a minute, "...althought it was nice having a warm body next to me..."

Everyone laughed, "Uh-oh..." Siyra laughed, "Looks like someone might be getting a little attached!"

Ana slightly blushed but shook her head firmly, "I don't think so," she answered. _"At least I don't think so..." _

The rest of the time they cooked, all six girls talked about basically ramdom stuff or whatever came to mind. Once done cooking the girls took the food back to the rooms and ate breakfast with their guys.

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The rest of the morning and into some of the afternoon went pretty normal. The girls basically did the same things as yesterday; they cleaned, did laundry, cooked lunch and put up with the guys.

The turning point of the day was when the three girls went up to the kitchen to make dinner; what happened then would change the rest of their stay in the gladaitor school.

Maria, Ana, and Sakura just got up to the kitchen and started to cook when they heard voices from behind them.

"Who the hell do you think you are, bitch!"

"Yeah, what the hell makes you think you can go around fucking with our guys?"

Ana, Maria, and Sakura all turned around to come face to face with two girls. One had short blonde hair that was tied up in four stubby buns at the back of her head. Her eyes were dark and surpisingly sharp and peircing; her name was Temari. The other girl was only a couple inches shorter then the first one with dark hair that went all the way to her ankles and was kept in place with a white peice of cloth at the bottom. Her eyes were as dark as the blonde's were but more cunning a merciless; she was Kin.

"And you the fuck are you?' Ana asked in the same tone as the girls.

"None of your business," Temari answered.

"All you need to worry about is to stop fucking with our guys," Kin said.

"You mean Zabuza and Orochimaru! They started fucking with us first!" Maria exclaimed.

Ana started to laugh, "Look, there's something you should know about your beloved 'guys'. They're disgcusting pervs. They're also criminals, like everyone else here, and they're surrounded by girls...do you really think they'll only pay attention to you?"

Temari glared at Ana, "Well look who thinks she's knows all the guys here," she mocked, "I've screwed almost all the guys here and you think YOU know them? You probably couldn't even pay your guy to screw with you."

"Rather be a virgin then a whore," Maria chimed in.

"I'd say that too if I were as ugly as you are," Kin replied, "Where do you think they get it from, Temari? Their mother or father?" This made Ana and Maria's blood boil.

_"Oh boy, this is not going to turn out good," _Sakura, who was trying to stay out of this, thougtht now. She ran off to get the guys once more.

Temari pretended to think for a minute, "I think it's the mother...that's where all the dirty blood usually comes from."

Ana and Maria popped; they couldn't take this anyore. Ana got right up in Temari's face while Maria came up to Kin.

"Insult my mother one more time, I dare you," Ana growled threatingly.

"Now that I think about it mabye it was from the father," Temari smirked ignoring Ana and adressing Kin.

"Well I think it was both the parents that are responsible for this little shit in front of me," Kin replied.

The girls snapped. Ana punched Temari hard in the face sending her to the ground. Ana followed throwing more punches.

Maria tackled Kin to the ground and pinned her down doing the same as Ana.

Soon a large crowd started to form around the fight, but the fun was cut short when several guards came in to break up the fight. They grabbed Ana and Maria and dragged them off Kin and Temari and held them back.

Suddenly Sakura appeared with Sasuke, Gaara and Naruto following closely behind. They came up to the guards who were holding the two girls back that were still trying to go at it.

"They're our responsibility...we'll take them from here," Gaara replied to the guards.

One of the soilders was about to say something when a man in fine robes walked into the kitchen door. Everyone grew silent including Ana and Maria who were screaming just a second ago.

All the soilders stood at attention and stood up straight except for the ones holding the two angry girls; they were having a bit of trouble.

"Sir," one of the soilders said, "We caught these two starting a fight."

Ana and Maria's mouths hung open, "What do you mean WE started it? THEY started it!" both girls yelled pointing at Kin and Temari who were both bruised and a little bloodied.

Two soilders smacked Ana and Maria for them to shut up which only made their anger rise.

The man in the nice robes left his spot in the doorway and walked toward the soilders who were holding the girls. The man bent down a little a took Ana ana Maria's jaws in his two hands and turned them toward him, "I am the owner of this gladiator school and one thing I don't tolerate here are two troublemaking wrenches who don't know their places," he told them in a serious voice and looking them both in the eyes, "especially one's that have smart mouths."

The man squeazed their jaws a little bit then violently let go and stood up straight, brushing off his robes. "Now for the punishments..." he pondered for a minute now, "the white haired one will be flogged at the stake and the brown haired one will be our main attraction in the glaidator ring tomarrow...I would like to see how long she will last in there...it should be rather interesting."

With a finally evil smirk toward the girls and a flick of his robes, he was gone and out the door.

That's when people started to move around. The guard that had a hold of Maria let go since her punishment would come tomarrow. However the guard that had Ana did not let go and dragged her off and out the door. Her friends were right behind her along with the crowd who was coming to watch Ana's punishment.

"Common man," Naruto was saying and begging the guard, "She just got here like two days ago...she doesn't know any better."

The guard firmly sook his head and said, "Boss' orders."

Ana looked back at her friends; her face was full of confusion and fear; she didn't know what was going on but it must not be something very enjoyable if Naruto was standing up for her.

Off to the side of the fenced -in glaidator school were the punishment tools; there was a small platform with a stake in the middle and a rope to hang people, a bloody stake that had cuffs on it to whip people, a device that chopped your head off and other torture devices. These things weren't normaly used because usually people were just thrown in the glaidator ring and eaten by wild animals.

The guard led Ana over to the stake that had cuffs on it and violently took her hands and locked the hand cuffs. By now people were starting to gather around to watch including Temari and Kin who were smirking.

Suddenly Ana figured out what was happening. She looked to her friends with fear clearly forming on her face. Her body started to shake a little and she suddenly looked weak and fragile standing there chained to this stake; she felt exposed.

Sakura, Maria, Naruto, and even Sasuke and Gaara looked to her with sympathy; there was nothing they could do, it was out of their hands and all they could do was watch.

When the crowd had gotten larger, the guard decided it was time to start. He took out a small knife that was in his belt and cut the back of Ana's clothes all the way to her lower back. Her whole back, soft and untainted, was now exposed to the soilder's mercy. Ana could feel her breath coming out in short gasps now and her throat becoming raw; after everything she had been through in her life that was much worse then this, she was acually terrified of what was going to happen to her. The soilder could whip her to death or only scare her and whip her a couple times...she didn't know. But Ana knew one thing; she didn't want to die. She was going to get out of here eventally and see her family again and take care of her two sisters and widowed mother, just like the way things used to be.

Ana stared at the dirt; she couldn't even look up at her friends anymore.

Maria was watching Ana's facial expressions; it tore from her heart to see her friend like that and not be able to help. But what made it worse was, out of the corner of her eye, Maria saw Temari and Kin...and they were whispering to each other and smirking.

Maria narrowed her firey eyes at them. She turned on her heels and headed straight for them. "You think this is funny, bitches?" Maria was saying to them, they turned to look at her, "Looks like your feeling a lot better...how 'bout I fix that and give you another ass kick!"

Maria was just about to launch herself at them again when she was caught in mid air by Gaara, "Calm down Maria," he told her as he tightened his grip on her waist and pulled her away, "your already being punished tomarrow so we really don't need a repeat of what just happened."

The pissed off girl growled as she was being pulled away.

Once back with the group and at a safe distance from Maria's enemies, Gaara let her go. Maria stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.

Ana's punishment was starting. The guard took out a long leather whip from his belt and pulled his hand over his head. Ana wasn't ready when the first blow hit her and as soon as hard leather came in contact with her back she gave a short yelp and tightly closed her eyes. The next 10 hits to her body, Ana bit her lower lip with all her might and tightened her fists togehter; after that she couldn't help but cry out when she was hit.

After the 15th hit, Ana fell to her knees. A couple tears rolled down her face as she felt the trickle of blood go down her back.

The group watched as Ana's face contorted with pain and she gritted her teeth. Every now and then she would let out a silent scream.

Maria and Sakura flinched every time their friend was hit. Sakura couldn't take it anymore; she hid her eyes in Naruto's shoulder as a couple tears went down her cheek. Naruto looked away putting his arm around Sakura.

When Maria had seen enough she looked at the ground sadly, biting her lip, and squeezed Gaara's arm.

The only person that was watching now, besides the crowd, was Sasuke. Even though the sight bothered him, he couldn't look away. He had seen this kind of pain before; it reminded him of when his clan was slaughtered...when his parents died. Sure, he had seen people suffer plently of times; he did live in a glaidator school. But this was differant; it was happening to someone he knew...someone he acually cared about a little more then others and it reminded him when his parents died.

Sasuke was feeling many things he hadn't felt for along time: sadness, anger, frustration, hurt, helplessness...all the things he felt that fateful night when he was a kid. This girl's suffering was bringing it all back to him; all these feelings he thought he had forgotten and cast away...what did this mean? It couldn't mean he cared about her a little more then he would like...no way, not him.

By the 40th lash, Ana had become unconscious; her punishment was over.

The soilder unlocked her handcuffs and walked off leaving Ana's limp body for her group to take care of.

The crowd had dispersed and group 40 was now running to help Ana.

Maria and Sakura were the first to get to her. The two girls could hear a soft groan coming from Ana's mouth as they tried to pick her up by the arms.

"We'll get her..." Sasuke replied to Maria and Sakura who nodded and backed away.

Sasuke and Gaara each took one of Ana's arms and lifted her up so that she was now propped up against them; her arms over their shoulders, her weight leaning on them. Naruto then took Ana's feet and lifted them up so now the unconscious girl was off the ground.

With ease, the boys gently started to take Ana back to the room, Maria and Sakura following closley behind.

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Once back at their room, Maria and Sakura opened the door and let the guys through.

Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto then took Ana over to the empty table and gently placed her on her stomach.

Maria and Sakura stood around Ana inspecting her wounds. Ana's back, once smooth and unscratched, was now covered in blood, dirt, hanging skin, bruises, and deep slash marks. The girls took hold of Ana's hand and started to rub it soothingly.

No one said anything as Gaara took out a pocket knife and cut the peices of cloth that were hanging at her side barely attached to the rest of her clothes anymore. As Gaara did that, Sasuke went into the bathroom and came out a minute later with a bowel of cold water, a couple rags, bandages, and a glass bottle that had some greenish subsance in it. Sasuke set these things in the chair next to the table then the boys set to work: Gaara and Naruto cleaned Ana's back and the wounds with the cold water. Next, Sasuke put some of the green stuff on his finger tips and started to gently rub it into Ana's wounds. He noticed that all the few spots on Ana's back that weren't scratched were acually still soft; he found himself liking the feeling.

Even though unconscious, Ana took in a short gasp and she wiggled around a bit from the stinging substance that was being rubbed into her back.

Sakura and Maria both looked up at Gaara at the same time for some explaination.

"This stuff cleans and helps heal the wound but it stings," Gaara answered.

"How do you guys know all this stuff?" Maria asked amazed by their swift and gently works.

Naruto shrugged, "We get beat every so often and so this is pretty much like a routine for us."

After Sasuke was done, he wipped off his hands, then handed the two girls the roll of bandages.

"Take these and just bandage up the whole upper half of her body," he instructed them, "we would help but that would require us to strip her down so I hope you will be able to do it?"

The girls nodded as Maria took the bandages from Sasuke, "I went to medical school for awhile...I think we can handle it," Sakura said.

With that the boys left; Sasuke and Gaara both went to their rooms and shut the doors and Naruto went up to get replacement clothes for Ana.

Maria and Sakura started on Ana. First, they tore the rest of the ruined clothes away from their friend's body. Next, they gently turned Ana over so that she was on her back. Sakura then sat Ana up straight, letting Ana's back rest against her chest so that Maria could start wrapping. Maria wrapped bandages all the way around her friend's body starting at her chest and going all the way down to her waist.

Ana's upper body was now covered in white bandages. Sakura let her down slowly back on the table and let her rest on her back. The girls took the torn up clothes and laid them across Ana's lower half for when Naruto came back with the clothes.

When Naruto came back, he handed Maria the clothes and went into his room and shut his door. Sakura removed the torn clothes from Ana's lower half and together both girls dressed Ana so that the bandages were now covered up by the clothes.

Maria and Sakura knocked on the guy's doors. They came out and went up to the table.

"Now what?" Sakura asked.

"I'll put her in my room. She can sleep in there again...I'll sleep on the floor," Sasuke said.

No one argued as Sasuke picked Ana up bridal style and carried her into his room. Sasuke went up to his bed and gently laid her on it and pulled the blankets over her.

Sasuke looked down at the unconscious girl and the slow rising of her chest one more time before he turned and went under his bed and got out a pillow and a couple blankets and made himself a bed.

That night the 5 teens went to sleep without dinner; the only sounds were the soft growling of their stomaches and Ana's steady breathing.

Maria was the only one who didn't go right to sleep. She was thinking about what awaited her in the morning...

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There you have it: chapter 5 completed. Sorry for updating so late...school and school activities...you know the drill. oh and sorry again for the mispellings; it sucks.

So i will try to update as soon as i can AFTER i update 'Fixing their Future' and 'Just Wanna Be Me'.

I'm trying my best! plz bare with me and it would help if i got some support so plz review! THANK YOU!

Hope you enjoyed!

Till next time!

-rayluva4


	6. Into the Arena

Hey everyone! Man, I just had some hot chocolate and I feel great! Mahahahaha! I think it had something in it cause I'm feeling a bit hyper if ya couldn't tell….who new you could get drunk off hot chocolate! Ahem…anyways here's the next chapter of gladiators!

Disclaimer…unfortunately…

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix- **YES! She finally gets to fight! Yay lol! I'm excited too! Girl power! Lol. Guys so underestimate females until they get their butts kicked! Lol. Thanks for the review!

**KidManga- **Thank you for the review, as always, and the wonderful support!

**Chapter 6: Into the Arena**

Ana woke up the next morning feeling like she had been run over by a wagon. She moaned.

The aching girl reluctantly opened up her eyes to realize she was in a bed in an empty room; Sasuke's room. Ana made an effort to sit up. A sharp stinging pain shot up through her back and she winced, immediately lying back down. She placed a hand on her chest suddenly feeling the layers she had on. Ana lifted up the top of her clothes to see that there were bandages covering the whole top part of her body, all the way down to her waist. That was when she remembered what had happened yesterday.

Ana groaned while blowing the hair that had fallen in her face away. This was just great.

She made another effort to get up, this time going much slower and gritting her teeth against the pain. When she was finally sitting up, her feet dangling off the edge of the bed, Ana sighed looking around the room straining her ears to hear any sounds of her roommates out side the bedroom.

"_Where the hell are they?" _Ana asked herself when she didn't hear anything.

That was when she also remembered what was today: Maria's punishment. Ana's eyes widened. Today was the gladiator fight that was held in the Coliseum for people to watch. Today was also they day that Maria was going to be the main attraction as a punishment for yesterday; she was going to be in it and have to face a wild animal!

Ana shot up from the bed and hobbled shakily for the door, her head suddenly throbbing as well as her back.

"_They better not have left yet!" _she thought to herself almost tripping but caught herself on the door. She threw it open, light surrounding her and blinding her eyes.

Once her eyes focused she saw what she'd hoped and her panicked heart started to slow down. There in front of her was her 5 roommates sitting around in the common room, staring wide eyed at her as she burst through the door. Good, then they hadn't left yet.

Maria and Sakura were the first to spring up and come to Ana's side rapidly asking her questions with worried expressions.

"Are you alright?"

"What's wrong?"

"How's your back?"

"How are you feeling?"

Ana opened her mouth to answer but found that she couldn't. Her voice was caught in her throat and her head was spinning from the headache and now from all the rapid questions. She slowly walked over to the couch and plopped herself down, her friends and their questions following her. Her eyebrows knitted together as she fought to think. She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.

"Will you guys PLEASE stop talking," she snapped, "you're making my headache worse."

Maria and Sakura instantly stopped talking and looked at their white haired friend, confusion and worry on their faces. They patiently waited for some answers; even the boys were now giving her some intense stares.

Ana took a deep breath, then answered, "No I'm not fine, my back is killing me along with my head and you guys talking in both sides of me ears isn't helping at all." She opened her eyes to look up at all 5 of her friends. "You shouldn't be worrying about me anyways, my punishment is over. It's Maria you should be worrying about now."

Maria's face instantly fell. She frowned as she plopped down next to Ana. "I know…" Maria whispered to her friend. Ana put her hand over Maria's a squeezed.

"It'll be alright," Sakura soothed crouching down to Maria's level and putting a comforting hand on her knee.

Ana looked up at the boys, "Any bright ideas on how to get thought this one?" she asked.

Naruto held up his hands, "Don't look at me, I got nothing."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Figures," she muttered. Naruto glared at her.

"All training and work, except cooking is put off for the day because of the fights, so we have a couple hours to prepare her before she goes into the arena," Sasuke replied.

Gaara nodded, agreeing with Sasuke, "We'll train her as much as we can till then."

Sakura nodded while Ana looked over at Maria who hadn't really sad anything recently, "Are you ok?" she asked.

Maria hesitated, "I'm scared," she replied finally.

Ana nodded; "Me too."

"We shouldn't be though," Sakura encouraged, "the guys will help you train and everything will turn out fine."

Maria shook her head, "You don't understand. My life has never been a fairy tale, and never will be. Good things never last long and bad things don't turn out for me; there are no happy endings," she said. "Sure I can defend myself really well but against some extremely hungry wild animal? I won't be surprised when it eats me."

The room was silent for a few minutes, then Ana said, "We can't think like that or nothing will turn out the way we want it too; we have to think positive if we want this to work." She got up with a little trouble from the pain still stinging in her back; Sakura helped her.

Once up, Ana dragged herself to the front door and turned to face, Sakura, Maria, Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto; determination etched into her features.

"Well we better get started don't ya think?" she asked confidently, "Who knows Maria, you might just turn out to be like Cinderella; you'll get a happy ending AND cute guy."

Ana laughed at her last comment as she opened the door and anything but gracefully made her way outside.

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All six of the teens walked outside and onto the training ground. It was a beautiful day for the gladiator fights; it was a bit hot but there was a nice cool breeze often. Another advantage for group 40 was that the training grounds were completely deserted.

"Where is everyone?" Sakura asked anyone who was listening.

"Why would anyone be out here when they get the day off?" Gaara replied smartly.

Sakura shrugged as they finally reached the training grounds. Now, the training ground was a long and wide area of flat land used to train, condition, and practice the gladiators, like Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto. There were all kinds of things to train with in this large space: any kind of weapon you could think of in one corner of the grounds on several shelves lined up next to each other, obstacle courses, places to spar at; basically the things you would find if you were training the military.

"Awesome," Maria breathed looking around at the grounds.

"Awesome my ass," Naruto said, "It's like freaking torture out here."

"Stop complaining moron," Sasuke hissed.

Naruto stopped and turned to Sasuke, "I'm not in the mood for your 'I'm better then everyone else' attitude today," he growled.

Sasuke stared Naruto down not saying anything; Naruto returned the stare.

Ana sighed, "Stop fighting kids," she replied taking to them as if they were 10, "Now, seriously. We didn't come out here for you two to fight; we came out here to help Maria so she doesn't freaking get eaten."

Maria raised an eyebrow, "Thanks Ana, that makes be feel loads better," she replied sarcastically. Ana just smiled, ignoring Maria's sarcasms.

Gaara stopped a few yards in front of were this is happening and dropped the big brown sack he had been carrying on his back the whole way up there. He threw it on the ground, ignoring the childish arguments that were going on, and opened it up, taking all the stuff that was in it out. The bag's contents consisted of 3 gold shields, and all kinds of daggers, swords, bows, arrows, and spears, and a couple of different sized gold cuff things that the girls had no idea what was used for.

"This is what we use when we go into battle," Gaara replied motioning to all the equipment strewn about.

"Where's all the armor?" Sakura asked, "That can't be all you guys get as protection…just that little shield?"

Sasuke was the one to answer this time, he nodded; "We only wear pants and no armor. They only things were get as defenses are that shield and as many weapons as we want."

Naruto continued from there, "The few women gladiators wear something similar and they get the same defenses the men do…no armor either," he added.

The girls nodded looking over all their gear, "What are those for?" Ana asked pointing to the variety of gold cuffs.

"Don't worry about those," Gaara demanded, picking up a spear and throwing in Maria's direction, "The only thing this girl needs to worry about is how do handle all these weapons and how to defend herself."

Maria caught it while Gaara picked up another spear and took an offensive stance in front of her, "You do know how to use one, don't you?"

Maria bit her lower lip, "Well not exactly a spear but a sword-" She didn't get to finish because Gaara come quickly toward her. He gracefully spun around her and spun his leg under her feet sending her onto her butt.

"Hey!" she yelled at him angrily, "I wasn't ready!"

"You talk too much," Gaara replied distastefully, "Now get up and concentrate."

Maria huffed as she got up and took a defensive stance. This time when Gaara came at her she was able to block most of his attacks, until, that is, he started to use some of his more advanced moves on her, and then she was back on her butt again.

"Don't you think you're being just a little too rough?" Naruto asked after Maria was knocked on her butt yet again.

Gaara ignored Naruto's comment and continued to come at Maria.

"Well hello? Are you going to answer me or not?" Naruto yelled annoyed by Gaara's isolation to him.

Sasuke sighed, "Do you really think that some hungry wild animal is going to do easy on Maria? She has to be ready for anything, moron. He's trying to prepare her."

And that's pretty much how the next 3 hour went. Naruto and Sasuke fought, Sakura and Ana talked and watched, and Gaara continued to teach Maria the proper stances and techniques for defending and killing a wild animal. Ana and Sakura even learned something themselves and also became familiar with all the different weapons in their spare time.

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By the time the fights were getting ready to start and it was time to go back to the room to get ready, Maria was getting good with her weapons; she was as ready as she would ever be.

"That wasn't too bad for only a couple hours of practice, you should be fine," Naruto reassured her.

Sasuke nodded, "It takes years of practice to get as good as some of the other gladiators here."

Naruto walked off to get Maria's clothes that she would wear while everyone else went back to their rooms.

When Naruto got back he handed the folded up clothes in his hands to Maria, "Here," he replied, "This is what female gladiators wear."

With that, Sakura and Ana dragged Maria into the bathroom, swiped the clothes out of their friend's hands and laid them out onto the floor to get a better look.

The three girls eyed them distastefully.

"Oh boy, you have got to be kidding me," Sakura replied staring at the clothes.

Ana suspiciously narrowed her eyes at the piece of clothing like it would attack her at any minute, "I bet Naruto got those on purpose," she hissed.

Maria stared blankly at the clothes for a few minutes then sighed starting to strip the clothes she had on already off and throw them to the floor. Maria then put on the clothes she would wear for her fight.

"Well I guess they're not that bad," Ana replied eyeing Maria once she was finished dressing.

"They actually look really good on you," Sakura smiled warmly.

"Are you sure I don't look like a whore?" Maria asked looking down at her clothes.

"Well…we never said that," Ana laughed.

Sakura glared at Ana, "Your not helping," she said then turned to Maria, "Chill, you look fine. Not like you have a choice anyway though, right?"

Now I guess your all wondering what Maria was wearing. Well, she had on a skirt that came down to a little above her mid thigh. The skirt was brown and had two slits going up her legs only stopping a few inches from her waist. The top she was wearing was also brown. It had thin sleeves and it exposed all of her stomach only coming up to just a little below her breasts. The front of the top came down in a circular shape then turned into a slit that come down right down the center of her chest; there was brown string keeping the slit somewhat closed showing a little cleavage.

Just as the girls were about to leave the bathroom, Maria put her hair up in a ponytail so it wouldn't get in her face later when she was fighting.

As soon as the girls walked out of the bathroom, Naruto whistled. "Damn Maria. You look hot in _that_," he replied nudging Gaara who was next to him with his elbow. Gaara in return whipped his head around to face Naruto giving him a death glare. Naruto instantly backed off, turning his head away from his annoyed roommate.

Naruto smiled then turning to look at Sakura, "We should get you a pair just like it," he told her. Sakura in response also gave Naruto a death glare. Naruto shut up; he decided it would be best not to annoy his friends anymore for a while.

Sasuke walked over to where they had left the bag of weapons when they came back from training Maria, picked it up, then went over to the table and took out the weapons and laid them out on the table top.

"You'll need this...this…this…and this," Sasuke replied as he picked up a sword, 3 daggers, a spear and a shield. He threw the spear over to Maria, who caught it, and the rest of the weapons he walked over to her and set them down on the ground in front of her.

Gaara brought over a few other things like dagger holders, 2 thin golden cuffs and a sheath. "Put this on your leg," he said handing Maria the dagger holder, "And put his around your waist." He handed her the sheath and some string to tie it around her waist with.

Maria put the spear down, secured the dagger holder around her upper right thigh and put the daggers in it, and then she put the sword in its sheath and tied it around her waist with the string.

"Put these on each of your upper arms," Gaara commanded giving Maria the 2 thin golden cuffs.

"Why? What are these for?" she asked looking at them in her hand.

"They are to represent your rank," Naruto answered for Gaara, "2 cuffs on your upper arms means you are a prisoner or a criminal. One on you upper left arm means you are a gladiator."

Maria nodded once slipping them on each upper arm.

Once every thing was in place and all the weapons were secure on Maria, it was time to go. The six teens walked together out the door of their room and through the dark, winding hallways under the Coliseum; they could already hear the faint voices of people yelling and cheering in the stands above them; the games had already started.

The more they traveled through the hallways and up flights of stairs, the more clearly the cheers stared to become until they were a loud roaring in the group's ears.

Group 40 finally came to a door and stopped before going in.

Naruto turned to the girls, "If I were you, I would stay close. There are a plenty of men from here on out that would just love to get you in bed," he smirked, winking at them.

The girls' faces scrunched up in disgust as they looked to the door; they could hear many men's deep voices coming from the other side.

Sakura got closer to Naruto who happy put a protective arm around her waist. Maria and Ana were too stubborn to get any closer to the boys then they already were which was right next to them, as they opened the door and went through.

The other side was just as Naruto had warned them it would be. There were male gladiators everywhere; sitting on benches, fixing their weapons, or talking to friends and as soon as group 40 walked in, all those male's eyes were on the girls.

The men continued to talk or do whatever they were doing as they lustfully eyed the females that had just walked in.

Sakura's scooted closer to Naruto, who stared straight ahead, as they walked through and toward two big wooden doors ahead; light was shining through the cracks in the wood. Maria and Ana stiffened and got a bit closer to Gaara and Sasuke. Gaara kept Maria in front of him just a few inches away at all times as they walked on so that he could keep an eye on her and all the perverted males around her. Sasuke on the other hand stayed right beside Ana as they walked, distastefully glaring at all the men whose eyes were on his personal servant.

Suddenly one of the gladiator come up to Maria smirking, "Hey princess, good luck out there and try not to get yourself hurt. We wouldn't want the pretty little ass of yours to-"

Without saying a word, Gaara cut him off by punching him in the face, breaking the guy's nose and grabbing Maria's arm and pulling her forward. Maria was too stunned to even realize what had just happened; she let Gaara drag her on.

Someone also approached Ana. The man put his hand on Ana's arm saying, "Hey baby, why don't-" He also could not finish because Sasuke grabbed the hand that was on Ana's arm and twisted it around; there was a sickening cracking sound and a painful yell as Sasuke broke the man's wrist. He then grabbed Ana's arm and pulled her toward the rest of their group who were getting ahead of them.

Ana stared at the back of Sasuke's head as he pulled her forward, "Was breaking his wrist really necessary?" she asked.

Sasuke suddenly came to halt and turned to face her, his eyes showing anger, "Would you rather I just let him feel you up?" he asked bitterly.

"No, but-"

"Then shut the fuck up," Sasuke hissed cutting her off and continuing to go to the others, dragging Ana along who was biting her lower lip annoyed with Sasuke and his temper.

Group 40 walked up an incline before finally coming to the 2 big wooden doors at the top. They looked massive up close. There was a bright light coming from the arena and the cheers were as loud as ever. Through these doors was the arena, the place were thousands of gladiators had died and also where Maria's fate would be decided.

Maria was starting to really get nervous now; she grabbed a hold of Gaara's arm and squeezed biting her lower lip. Her eyes were larger then usual and she was trembling a bit.

"God my stomach hurts," she breathed.

Ana come up to Maria and hugged her tight, "Don't worry," she soothed, "Everything will be ok. You're doing to get your happy ending and we'll be right here when you do; we won't leave, I promise."

After Ana let go she kissed each of Maria's cheeks then Sakura gave Maria a hug also, "Remember what you learned and I'm positive you'll do fine; I'm sure Gaara trained you very well," Sakura assured her.

Sakura let go of her friend. Naruto then turned to Maria and gave her a quick hug while Sasuke and Gaara nodded assuringly as Gaara handed Maria her spear and shield. That's when a loud creaking sound was heard and the massive wooden doors began to open, light pouring in to the dark pathway they were in.

The cheering and yelling became louder as Maria tried to adjust her eyes to the sudden bright light. When her eyes finally did focus she saw something that made her heart jump and speed up. There, above and all around her people were standing in the stands yelling and cheering. And not just a few people either; there was hundreds of thousands of people in the stands of a massive stone building known as the Coliseum. Sure, Maria had seen the Coliseum from the outside and it was humongous standing on the Italian soil with all it's glory; she had never thought that man could have build something like that. But on the inside it was looked even bigger, it was massive with its open area for fighting, open ceiling, and tons of seating for the audience rising up many stories above Maria's head. From what she could tell, every seat in the Coliseum today was filled to the brim with people; the gladiator fights were every popular and people from all around came to see them.

Maria noticed that in front of her, just a couple stories up was balcony type space, cleared away from guests and was decorated with many fine curtains and gold expenses. That was where the emperor, his family and his attendants got to sit. Maria spotted the emperor in a big gold chair with a little boy next to him, his wife was not there; she had passed away many years ago Maria knew. She also knew that the little boy, about 12 years old or so, was the emperor's son and heir. The emperor himself was very old looking, with a white beard and white hair and many fine clothing around him. He looked at bit tired sitting there as his attendants come and went asking him questions in his ears as he waved them off.

Maria took in a deep breath as she stepped into the arena. The wooden doors shut behind her and the cheering seemed to get louder. Just before the door closed, Maria strained her ears to hear Sakura and Ana's faint voices saying good luck to her.

Maria tightly shut her eyes trying to block out all negative thoughts as she turned around to face the arena again. This time she noticed that there were other big wooden doors all around the arena just like the one behind her…except she knew that what was behind her door was defiantly different to what was behind all the other doors…dangerous different.

Maria took her time walking to the center of the arena; she was in absolutely no hurry but she walked on the balls of her feet and stayed alert to anything just in case some one tried to pull a fast on her.

Once she was in the center, Maria stood there waiting for the big bad wild animal that was suppose to attack her to come, but it never did. So she waited…and waited; the crowd still yelling and cheering. Maria was starting to wonder what was going on.

"_What's going on…why isn't anything happening?" _ She asked herself as she gripped tighter to her spear, holing her shield and taking her defensive stance, scanning the area over and over again.

Suddenly the ground only several yards ahead of her stared to split apart and a big hungry tiger launched itself from the hole, immediately coming straight for her. It had been an elevator coming from underneath the ground that had released the tiger.

"_Shit! I didn't know it could do that!" _Maria thought as she turned on her heels running in the opposite direction.

The tiger, running behind her, caught up fast to the girl. Just as it got even closer and was ready to pounce, Maria turned around and crouched down putting her shield over her head. Just as the tiger jumped on her shield, she used all her strength and the tiger's momentum to push upward and over her, sending the tiger sprawling over her head and many feet behind her.

Maria took this time to face the angry and annoyed tiger and to get a good defensive stance to fight with. Maria's nervousness was forgotten and her body was numb of all feeling; she wasn't really thinking anymore as she stared the tiger in the eyes, ready for it to charge.

Maria heard the crowd cheer louder as the tiger came for her yet again.

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After Maria walked through the wooden door and it closed behind her, Sakura and Ana said good luck before turning to the guys.

"Were can we watch at?" Ana demanded.

Sasuke and Gaara motioned for them to follow as they lead the girls down the incline, around a corner and to two half windows that had wooden bars on them near the ceiling. The boys grabbed 2 crates and put them below the windows; the girls shared a crate and a window while the boys shared the other.

Ana and Sakura peered out over the window's ledge. Even though the windows were near the ceiling in the room they were in, if you were in the arena looking at them, the windows would be near the floor meaning that the room Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto, Ana, and Sakura were in was below the level of the actual arena.

Group 40 didn't complain though; they could see plenty through the windows and at the angle they were in. Right now they watched as Maria cautiously made her way to the center of the arena and then stop and wait, holding tightly to her weapons.

For a while nothing happened as the group held their breath, waiting. Finally, Sakura sighed, "What's going on?" she asked the guys.

"Watch," Gaara answered firmly not even turning his head away from the window.

Sakura turned her eyes back out the window and sure enough something was happening; a hole was appearing in the middle of the ground. Sakura immediately realized that it was an elevator. Both girls jumped as a tiger pounced from the hole.

"Shit," Ana cursed under her breath when the tiger started running for Maria as she ran for it.

Gaara on the other hand was thinking something else, _"Duck down and put the shield over you Maria…duck down…do it…" _he commanded her in his mind as if she could some how hear him. But she did do it and the tiger flew over her. _"Good girl." _

This gave Maria time to turn and get a good fighting stance.

Ana smiled, taking Sakura's hand which was trembling, "She's gonna do it, Sakura…don't worry," she soothed.

Sakura nodded never taking her eyes from out the window.

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Maria tightened her grip on her spear and shield as the tiger came for her; her muscles tightening up, ready to spring at any moment.

Just when the tiger was almost to her, Maria rolled out of the way. The tiger was quick though and pounced on her sending her to the ground. Maria instantly put the shield between her head and throat as the tiger tried to claw her to death. Instead of getting flesh the tiger just banged up the shield. Maria gritted her teeth against the full grown animal's weight on her and the strength it was taking to keep the shield in place against the tiger's powerful limbs.

Maria decided that trying to push the tiger off of her was not going to work, so instead she kicked it hard in the stomach, causing it growl even louder then it already was. The tiger still didn't budge off of her, it just made him angrier. So Maria wedged her hand down to her leg were the daggers were and quickly grabbed one and thrust the weapon into the animals stomach.

The tiger yelled out in pain, reeling back, as Maria took this time to roll out from underneath it but losing her shield in the process. She took her stance again; the tiger was already angrily coming at her again.

Maria gulped nervously; she didn't have a shield anymore. Now she was starting to fell nervous again.

"_Not good," _she thought as the tiger came at her, "_It's do or die now."_

Maria tried jumping out of the way as the tiger tried to pounce on her again. She got most of her body out of the way in time except for her side which the tiger managed to reach out and claw her skin.

Maria screamed as she hunched over, clutching her side which now had an enormous gash in it, blood seeping down her side.

The crowd cheered even louder at the sight of blood but Maria didn't hear them at all. Her ears were ringing as she turned to face the animal again who was already coming to make the final blow; dread was spreading its way through her body.

Maria wasn't thinking as the tiger reached out its claws and jumped over her, ready to tear her into bits. The injured girl instinctively put out her spear to protect her as the hungry animal come in contact with Maria.

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Ana gasped and Sakura screamed as Maria rolled out of the way but the tiger jumped on top of her.

"_Maria no, what are you thinking. You should have used your spear, not rolled out of the way!" _Gaara yelled, frustrated with the girl.

The boys looked over at the girls to see Ana holding tightly on to the wooden bars on the window, digging her nails into it and biting her lower lip while Sakura was holding her breath staring out the window in somewhat of a trance; her face was turning purple from not breathing.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled frustrated at her, "breath!"

Sakura jumped, coming out of her trance and let out the long breath that she had been holding in; her face turning to its normal color.

"Right," she apologized looking at Sasuke, "sorry."

Sasuke rolled his eyes turning back to the fight as did Sakura.

Suddenly, they saw Maria stab the tiger in the stomach then jump out from under it, but this time without her shield.

Both girls let out a sigh if relief. "Shit," Ana sighed.

Gaara watched as the tiger came at Maria once again only this time without a shield. _"You have to use your spear, Maria. Fight back this time,"_ he thought. But his thoughts were ignored because Maria just tried to jump out of the way again and this time got a serious gash on her side from the tiger's sharp claws.

Gaara threw up his hands which everyone ignored, "_What did I say!"_

Ana put a hand over her mouth as Sakura shrieked, "Maria!" she yelled.

"Look at that gash, it's horrible," came Ana's muffled commented from her hand still covering her mouth.

Just then, the tiger came at Maria again, wanting to make the final blow.

"I can't watch!" Sakura cried putting a hand over her eyes quickly. Ana dug her fingernails deeper into the wood as did Gaara as he thought, "_You have to do it now Maria. Now or never. Use the spear." _

Then it happened. The group watched as Maria weakly put up her spear and the tiger come in contact with the girl, jumping on top of her. Maria's body disappeared under the tiger's.

For a while nothing moved in the arena and no one spoke among the group; everything but the crowd was still who were still cheering for who they wanted to get up and be alive.

"Maria?" Ana whispered.

Sakura's curiosity got the best of her and she removed her hand from her eyes, only to gasp in horror at the sight of the tiger on Maria and quickly snap them shut again.

Finally something moved in the arena; it was the tiger and he was shifting.

Ana bit her lip harder as she stared intensely at the scene, "No…" she whispered.

The guys were shocked as well and didn't say a word. Sakura still wasn't looking.

Suddenly the tiger started to move more until group 40 could see something stirring under it too. Ana smiled at seeing what was going on; the tiger was only moving because Maria, who was alive still, was trying the push the limp body off of her. Maria managed to crawl her way out from underneath the tiger's corpse which had a spear stuck through its stomach. She dragged her bloodied and dirty body out and away from the dead animal breathing heavily.

The crowd roared at Maria's victory as Sakura opened her eyes at the sudden noise and saw what was going on. Ana happily hugged Sakura. The boys were relived also but didn't show it like the girl's did; except Naruto, who, of course, was jumping up and down like a maniac.

"Common," Gaara sighed, a bit stressed out, "we got to go meet her at the door."

With that the group put the crates back and headed back to the big wooden doors that Maria had first gone in at.

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Maria was breathing heavily and the crowd cheering loudly, as she dragged her aching, sore body out from underneath the tiger and away from it, shakily pulling herself up to a standing position.

Maria's legs wobbled as she stood up. A shearing pain went up her side as she clutched her wound which was bleeding heavily now. She saw the wooden doors she had come in at slowly come open; she started to drag her way to it, just wanting to get out of the hell hole she was in.

Halfway to the door Maria started to wobble again and her vision got a bit blurry from the pain and blood she was losing. She could fell her legs give out and fall towards the ground. She closed her eyes waiting for the ground to meet her back side but it never came; someone's hands were clutched on to both her upper arms preventing her to fall.

Maria looked up to see who and caught her and found the people she least wanted to see at the moment; two roman soldiers. They were dragging her by the upper arms to the wooden door. Maria really didn't want them to touch her, and she would have fought back in a normal situation, but right now having someone carry her back was easier then walking herself.

Maria fought to keep her eyes open as they came to the doors and went through them. On the other side Maria saw her friends waiting; Sakura and Ana rushed to her.

"Maria!" they both screamed.

The boys came up to Maria and the soldiers, "We got her from here," Sasuke firmly told the guards who handed Maria to Gaara. Gaara carefully picked her up bridal style and started off to their room, the others not far behind.

Maria looked up at Gaara as he was carrying her back. He was looking straight ahead with an expressionless face. She hated it when he did that, which was pretty much all the time, it kept her from reading him or even guessing what he was thinking. Maria liked it when she could read people, predict them, guess what they're thinking, but with Gaara she couldn't even imagine doing that, he was just too private, keeping his thoughts and feelings to himself. Maria looked into his eyes, confused, trying to get even a glimpse of emotion in his eyes. She gave up when she saw none; he kept staring ahead.

Maria did like being close to him though. Strangely enough, it made her feel safe against his body. The warmth his skin gave off, how firm his chest felt against her body, his forceful grip, and just the scent of him made her feel like there was nothing this man couldn't protect her against. For some strange reason Maria felt like she was loved again. After her parents dieing, her brother leaving and now this hellhole, Maria would give anything to stay in Gaara's presence forever, even if he was just a bit cold; she was addicted and not having it would starve her.

Maria wondered if Gaara knew he had this affect on her, _"Probably not," _she thought. But if he did he did an excellent job of not showing it.

Sooner then Maria thought she was at their room. Gaara kicked open the door with his foot, quickly brought Maria over to the bare wooden table and gently laid her down on top of it. Naruto was the last to come in and shut the door behind him, meanwhile Sasuke hurriedly went into the bathroom and came out with a small bottle and a piece of cloth.

Maria winced from the pain coming from her side as Gaara laid her down. Not only was the pain from her side killing her but she was already starting to feel the pain of losing the good feelings she was having next to Gaara. After having them, she really didn't want to let them go.

"What's that?" Sakura asked as Sasuke came in with the little bottle, "Is that the same stuff you put on Ana?"

Sasuke shook his head, "No," he answered flatly, "this is a little bit different. It won't sting as much as the other one did." Sasuke then handed Gaara the bottle.

Gaara took it and applied a little of the liquid that was in it on his fingertips then surprisingly gently, he rubbed it over Maria wound.

Maria moved uncomfortably under the slightly burning feeling that was coming from the wound now with the substance on it.

Sasuke then took the cloth, let the liquid settle, and wiped that along with the blood away with the cloth. Once Sasuke was done, Gaara helped Maria sit up.

"Go take a quick bath and wash away the remains," Gaara instructed, "then put bandages around it. You can find those in the bathroom on the shelf somewhere."

Maria nodded turning toward the bathroom, but Sasuke stopped her, "Hold on," he commanded then turned to Ana, "let me se your back."

Ana stared at him for a monument then turned around untying the rope that was holding together her dress. She then opened the front of it and let it fall open, slipping down to her waist and exposing her front and back (remember she has bandages all around her top half so her chest is covered too.)

Sasuke walked up behind her looking at the bandages. There were now visible dark red marks all around her back from the blood starting to seep through the bandages from her wounds.

"Go with Maria and clean off that dried blood," Sasuke told her dully, "weather or not you put more bandages on it is your choice."

With that Gaara and Sasuke went to their rooms to get ready for bed, while Naruto went out the main door to go look for some food for them all.

Maria and Ana stared at the now empty room for a moment then shrugged and went into the bathroom.

Sakura was left in the living room alone, not knowing what to do. She heard someone laugh behind her. Sakura turned around to see it was Ana.

"Common," Ana laughed motioning into the bathroom. Sakura smiled, happy to comply since she really didn't want to be left alone, and followed Ana into the bathroom, Maria already in there getting ready to undress.

After the door was shut Ana and Sakura helped Maria take off all the weapons and things she had on then slip out her cloths and climb into the big wooden tub. She winced as the water touched her wound but gritted her teeth and sighed in pleasure once she was all the way in.

Once Maria was taken care of and all settled in, Ana took off her clothes while Sakura grabbed one of Maria extracted weapons and helped Ana to take off her bandages by cutting the back of it out. Once the bandages were off you could see the dried blood that was caked on her back and the dark bruises around the slash marks, along with the indents in Ana's creamy skin from the bandages.

Ana gave a half hearted laugh as she saw this in one of the broken mirrors against one of the walls. She then sighed, settling herself into the bath water across from Maria who had her eyes closed and her head back. Ana relaxed her tense muscles and her sore back as well.

Sakura desperately needed a bath as well and there was plenty of room left in the tub so she also stripped her clothes and hoped in beside her friends.

During the bath no one talked, just stayed quiet letting the warmth and stream over come them and helping them relax their bodies.

Once they decided they were getting tired and finally came out, the girl's helped Maria put on bandages and get dressed. Ana decided not to put more bandages on so she just got dressed as Sakura did.

The girl's walked out of the bathroom relaxed and refreshed to find 3 plates of food on the table and Gaara sleeping soundly in the couch.

The 3 girls quietly walked over to the table and sat down to eat. All three of them were starving and quickly ate their food; Maria ate and would also, every so often, look over at Gaara's sleeping figure. Now Maria, nor any of the girls for that matter, had seen Gaara sleep. Maria thought he looked peaceful lying there in his own world and even found herself wishing she knew what he was dreaming about; was in happy? Was it sad? Meaningful? Pleasureful? Nightmare?

There were no creases in Gaara's forehead from glaring all the time and even his mouth wasn't pulled down into a frown like Maria always had seen, it was just a straight line across his face and nothing more. But even these little changes brought character to Gaara's face to Maria and she started to see him in a different way; not as the poor orphan boy who was hated by his own family but as someone normal just caught up in this horrible place; maybe even someone innocent?

Maria shook her head, clearing her thoughts, _"Yeah right. Maybe in a different life," _she sighed sarcastically thinking to herself.

"Umm…are you alright?" Ana asked Maria curiously looking at her and cutting off the girl's personal thoughts. That's when Maria realized she had zoned out and Ana had been staring at her the whole time, even when she was staring at Gaara.

Nice move.

Maria blushed, quickly turning her head, "Yeah, fine. Just zoned out for a minute," she answered giving a nervous smile and turning back to her food.

Ana gave Maria a curious look turning to Sakura. She then smiled though, obviously thinking something. Oh boy, Maria would hear about this one later.

Once they were done eating the girls put their empty dishes by the main door, and then turned to look at Gaara who was sleeping on the couch.

"I guess we all sleep in his room," Sakura guessed, "Naruto and Sasuke are probably in their rooms already asleep."

Maria and Ana nodded and the girls headed to Gaara's empty room.

Once in the room, which was the same as the others, Ana turned to Maria, "You can have the bed," she replied.

Maria nodded, thanking her.

"But first you have to answer something," Ana added smiling.

_Oh boy, here it comes. _"Huh?" Maria asked suspiciously.

Sakura gave Ana a weird look, "Really Ana, she's had a long day, just let her go to bed."

Ana just continued to smirk as she went over to the bed, bent down to pulled out enough blankets and pillows, which were under the bed, for Sakura and her to use and to make a bed on the floor. She laid them out on the floor as Sakura came to help her and Maria climbed into Gaara's bed and settled herself down.

Just when everyone was settled in and comfortable and Maria was sure that Ana had forgotten about her question, she spoke up.

"So…" Ana started. Maria rolled her eyes; even if it was dark and she wasn't even looking at Ana who was lying on the floor, she could _hear_ the smirk on Ana's face.

"…do have anything you could like to share with Sakura and I? …Maybe having to do with a certain reddish color haired boy?" Ana pushed.

Maria thought for a minute. She really didn't mind sharing her thoughts or feelings with her friends but frankly Maria wasn't even sure what her thoughts and feelings were.

"I don't know…" Maria answered.

"Bull shit," Ana laughed.

"No really," Maria replied seriously, "I really have no idea what's going on with me. One minute I find myself thinking about him and staring at him, and the next I like hate him with a passion and wish he would just go to hell for being so frustrating and hateful."

Ana looked over at Sakura thought the darkness who was lying right next to her and smiled.

"Looks like Maria's got a little more on her plate then she bargained for," Ana laughed.

Sakura nodded while Maria just huffed, "I'm being serious; I really wanna know what's going on." She whined.

"Well I guess we'll just have to find out," Sakura said, "I'm mean we have long time with these guys don't we?"

Ana raised her eyebrows, "A little_ too_ long."

"But really guys, don't you find yourself wishing you knew what Sasuke and Naruto were thinking…what they thought about you…just hating them one minute then thinking about them the next?" Maria asked.

Sakura shrugged, "Yeah I guess, I mean I _do_ wish I knew what Naruto was thinking in that little brain of his," she laughed, "but don't get me wrong he is annoying but the little shit is pretty cute."

Maria laughed, "See, I'm not the only one…what about you Ana?"

There was no response for a few moments from the said girl, and then came Ana's reply, "No not really. Sasuke is cute…no scratch that, Sasuke is _gorgeous_, and sleeping so close to him that other night _was_ nice but he's just…I don't know…so cold…too distant I guess. He's pretty much an asshole to everyone like all the time. Maybe that's ok to you Maria with Gaara and everything but Sasuke…I don't know, he's just not my type I guess."

There was a certain sadness to Ana's voice that made Maria think twice about commenting. Instead all three girls gradually let their exhaustion come over them and fell into a deep sleep.

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Wow that took a lot longer then I thought! It's already passed Christmas! WELL MERRY LATE XMAS!

Ok well I hoped everyone like this chapter, it took a long time. Next chapter I think will be about Maria and Ana becoming full time female gladiators and training for it and such. There will be more battles too.

That was my first battle scene in this story and I really would like to know how I did since I want to have more. So is there anyway I can improve them? OPINIONS PLEASE! 

On to updating the last chapter of 'Fixing there Future'!

**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!**

---rayluva4


	7. Training Till the Cows Come Home

Hey people! Are you ready for the next chapter!! Cool. Alright so here it is.

Disclaimer. No I do not own the show even though I wish I had enough money to buy it…which I don't.

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RaWeR-YeR-fAcE- hey glad you liked to chapter!! Lol thank you for the review!!

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Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix- hey I don't mind cuz I totally know what you mean with all the school stuff that's been going on…ugh it sucks. I'll see what I can do about your suggestion too. I already have everything planned out but I'll see what adjustments I can make. J actually I think I may already have an idea brewing…hmmm…thanks for the idea and the review!

hey I don't mind cuz I totally know what you mean with all the school stuff that's been going on…ugh it sucks. I'll see what I can do about your suggestion too. I already have everything planned out but I'll see what adjustments I can make. actually I think I may already have an idea brewing…hmmm…thanks for the idea and the review!

Chapter 7: Training Till the Cows Come Home

Naruto woke up to the sound of Sasuke and Gaara already moving around and getting ready for the day. He yawned, stretched out and slowly got up and out of bed. Naruto went over and rummaged through his clothes, picking out what he would wear for the day, then headed out of his bedroom and to the bathroom.

As soon he entered the main room, Naruto saw that the bathroom door was already closed and Sasuke, already dressed, was at the table going through a couple of his weapons, inspecting them.

Naruto sighed frustrated, "Damn it," he replied, "Gaara finally beat me to the bathroom."

From his spot at the table, Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Hey loser. Make yourself useful for once and go wake up the girls." It wasn't a suggestion, it sounded more like a command; Naruto didn't miss that.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, "Why don't you, teme? Or are you too good for that?" he snapped.

Sasuke didn't look up from what he was doing, "Why should I? Besides your SO much better at it then I am," he replied in his usual cold sarcastic tone.

Naruto folded his arms across his chest, "Well you got that right, believe it!" he said missing Sasuke's sarcasm. Naruto turned toward the room where the girl's were sleeping and started walking to it. Sasuke smirked.

Naruto opened the door and walked into the dark room, the only light coming from the now opened door and a small torch from the corner of the room.

The blonde headed boy walked up to the girls who were all sleeping peacefully. Maria was on the bed, her back facing him, while Ana and Sakura were on the floor.

Naruto gulped, realizing what he just got himself into. "_Sasuke gonna pay for tricking me into this," _he thought bitterly, "_God, Maria and Ana are going to kill me for waking them up again…"_

Suddenly Sakura stirred and her eyes slowly fluttered open revealing sleepy green pupils. Naruto froze.

"Naruto?" she whispered his name. The boy let out a sigh of relief and his tense muscles relaxed. "Good, your awake Sakura," he said smiling, "Do you mind..um, waking them up for me?" He laughed nervously.

Sakura looked to he sleeping friends, "Sure Naruto," she answered.

Naruto's face lit up suddenly, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sakura! You're the best!" he said gratefully and quickly ran out of the room.

Sakura quietly giggled. Sometimes she did wonder what went on in that head of his.

She was still smiling as she turned over and gently nudged Ana awake, then went over to Maria. Both girls groaned but eventually got up with just a few small profanities under their breath.

Maria took a little longer to get up, her wound was bothering her.

Ana, who was groggily rubbing the sleep from her eyes, helped Maria up and her and Sakura helped Maria out of the bedroom.

Gaara had just got out of the bathroom and was heading for his room, when the girls came out of the bedroom, squinting from the suddenly bright light.

Naruto beamed happily, "Good you got them up!" he replied to Sakura, "And Sasuke thought I would get my ass kicked," he glared at Sasuke who was still at the table, "too bad that plan didn't work," he sniffed crossing his arms.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes and muttered 'dobe' under his breath.

The girls also rolled their eyes as Naruto started heading for the open bathroom door.

"I don't think so," Ana snapped. Naruto stopped to look at her, confused.

Maria read the look on his face, "we're going in first, Naruto," she explained to him.

Naruto looked taken back, "No way! I was here first, why should you get it before me!?" he complained.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "Why do you think," she replied motioning to Maria.

The girls passed Naruto, who was standing just a few feet from the bathroom door with a dumb look on his face, and headed inside.

"Either that or you will get your ass kicked," Ana added grumpily before shutting the door in his face.

Naruto huffed, planting himself down on the couch to wait till they got out. He muttered something under his breath that sounded to Sasuke like 'PMS' and 'women'.

The Uchiha just smirked. His plan had worked after all; even though Naruto didn't get beat up like he first wanted, the girls were still annoyed at him and one irritable word from the blonde and all hell would break lose on the poor boy. Oh yes, it would be a good day.

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After Naruto had gotten his turn in the bathroom, the girls were dressed and Maria had new bandages put on, it was time for breakfast.

"Maria are you sure you want to come with us?" Sakura asked. Her and Ana were about to walk out the door to go make breakfast when Maria had said she wanted to come.

Maria nodded, "Yeah I'll be fine," she answered, "Besides which would be better? To go with you guys and get some fresh air, or stay down here with these jerks?"

Naruto glared at Maria while Sasuke and Gaara didn't even flinch.

"Good point," Ana replied.

Maria smiled happily as she joined her friends.

"We'll be back later," Sakura replied to the guys before shutting the door. Naruto's voice stopped her.

"Actually we'll probably just be up later," he said, "We have today off of training too."

Ana poked her head in the room, "You mean you guys get yesterday and today off for the gladiator fights?"

Naruto nodded.

Sakura blinked, "Oh well, ok then. It'll be ready soon."

The guys nodded as the girls finally left.

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Ana and Sakura cooked and so did Maria despite her friend's objections. In the end she won though and helped out.

They were just putting the finishing touches on the food when Maria heard someone scream her name. The girls turned around to the sudden noise. There was a flash of blonde and then Maria suddenly felt someone smack into her and pull her into a hug.

Maria groaned, fighting the pain in her side from the sudden impact, "Ino," she growled, "Get. Off. Now."

The blonde headed girl slowly released Maria without question, giving her a hurt, confused look, "What's wrong, Maria?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "She's injured, Ino-Pig."

Realization slowly formed on Ino's face, "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I totally forgot about that!" Ino yelled, eyes wide in front of Maria.

Maria flinched from the girl's high pitched voice, "Really, it's ok. Just stop screaming, I'm right here."

Ana was, by now, hysterically laughing. Sakura giggling herself.

"What a blonde," someone replied, approaching the group.

The girl's looked over to see Ino's friends and group mates, Mira and Siyra, walking over to them with smug looks on their faces.

"Shut up Mira, I just forgot," Ino sniffed, glaring at her friend, "besides no one asked you."

Siyra let out a laugh, "How can you honestly forget after we saw the whole thing yesterday?" she asked then shook her head in embarrassment, "Mira's right, you are so a blonde."

Ino bit her lip, "I don't know...I just did so lay off," she answered, "besides I am not a blonde!"

"Then what do you call _this_?" Mira asked flatly picking up a handful of Ino's golden locks, "Blue?"

"Shut up," Ino huffed swiping her hair back.

"So you watched yesterday?" Ana asked curiously.

Mira was the one to nod in response, "We saw everything," she answered, "We wanted to come over to see if Maria was feeling better too."

Maria nodded, "I'm getting there."

"We should probably be thanking you though," Siyra cut in, "since you fought yesterday, we didn't have too. Your punishment to place in our time slot."

Group 40 stared, a little lost.

"Whoa, back up," Sakura said, "You mean you were going to fight too? Did you get in trouble as well?"

Ino answered this time, she shook her head, "No, we're some of the few female gladiators here," she explained, "Your punishment was in place of our fights this time, so thanks I guess."

Ana, Maria and Sakura were speechless for a while.

"Whoa," Maria replied finally, "that's pretty cool."

Siyra shrugged, "It's ok. I guess it makes things a little more exciting around here at least."

Ana nodded, "I bet it does. I don't blame you for wanting a little more."

"We also came over to tell Maria that we thought she did a really good job in the arena yesterday," Mira said.

Maria nodded a thanks.

"…And also to warn you," Ino added.

"Why's that?" Sakura wanted to know.

"You may be one of the next female gladiators," Siyra answered, "the owner of this place is always looking for new girls he thinks that have a chance in the area for a while. Brings in more spectators."

"Yeah, people are always wanting to see a good cat fight," Ino added laughing.

"So you don't get to pick if you want to be one or not then?" Maria asked.

The girls shook their heads, "No. If he thinks that you have any talent or endurance whatsoever, then your forced."

"Hey!" a voice yelled, "Who said you could stop and chat?! I'm hungry!"

Siyra growled, as a guy with brown, messy hair, and a small gray dog on his head, walked up to the group of girls and snaked an arm around her waist.

"Kiba! Can't you see we're trying to talk here!" Siyra snapped at the man named Kiba, "and get your disgusting hand off me!" Siyra slapped Kiba's hand from her waist cussing under her breath.

"How bothersome, the food isn't even ready yet," a man with short black hair tied in a little pony tail at the nape of his neck replied, walking up to the group. A guy with long black hair tied in a loose pony tail at the end was next to him, his eyes a white color and oddly no pupils.

"Can't guys ever think about anything other then their stomachs?" Ino sighed frustrated.

"Never even heard of such a thing," Kiba answered, his dog barking in agreement.

The girl's rolled their eyes.

"Ana, Maria, Sakura?" Mira replied sighing, "These are our 'masters' Kiba, Shikamaru, and Neji. Guys, these are our friends and the female part of group 40, Ana, Maria, and Sakura."

After being introduced, they looked each other up and down. Kiba was the first to say something, "Damn. So these are the girls you were talking about? …Pretty nice…" he smiled looking Ana, Maria and Sakura up and down.

Siyra slapped a hand to her forehead, "Why did I ever get paired up with him!?" she complained.

Just then, the rest of group 40 walked up.

"Well, well, well," Shikamaru replied flatly, "look what the cat dragged in."

Some people were a little more exciting then others; Ino for example was jumping up and down, screaming, as Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke walked up to them.

"Sasuke!" Ino yelled happily, closing her eyes in delight, "How have you been!? I haven't seen you in a long time!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Fine, Ino," he sighed, clearly already annoyed.

Shikamaru sighed also, shaking his head, embarrassed, "Why did I have pick _her_!?" he asked himself.

Ino stopped jumping up and down to glared at Shikamaru. She punched him in the arm, "Shut up. I know you like me," she hissed.

Mean while, Naruto and Kiba were have a little staring contest.

"Naruto," Kiba growled as well as his dog.

"Dog face and his smelly mutt," Naruto hissed in response.

Kiba opened his mouth to say something but Ana beat him to it, "Really Naruto, I don't see why you don't like his dog," she replied looking at the gray puppy, "I think he's rather cute myself."

Maria nodded, "Me too."

Kiba's face lit up and he took a step towards the girls "Thank you, ladies. I also happen to think that Akamaru is a good dog as well." Kiba took one of Ana and Maria's hands and kissed the top of each one once. The girls smiled, blushing a bit.

Sasuke and Gaara both glared angrily at Kiba who didn't seem to notice at all.

"I would love to get to know you ladies better," Kiba started, "what do ya say we have lunch sometime in my room?"

Sakura, Ino, Siyra, and Mira all busted out laughing.

"I'm surrounded," Neji muttered, saying something for the first time. Gaara nodded his agreement.

Both Maria and Ana lifted on eyebrow and looked at each other, "Thanks, but no thanks," they answered in unison taking their hands away.

Naruto started cracking up as well as the girls, "Rejection!" he yelled still laughing.

Kiba frowned as Shikamaru sighed, "Get back here," he said pulling him back from the girls, "you're an embarrassment."

Kiba's dog started growling, "I wouldn't be talking, lazy ass," Kiba muttered.

The laughing suddenly stopped as a guard yelled from across the kitchen, "You! The wenches from group 40! Come here now, the boss wants to see you!"

Sakura, Maria and Ana all turned their heads and sighed.

"What'd we tell ya?" Siyra asked, "Bet you 10 coins you come out of that room gladiators."

Mira and Ino nodded. Sakura looked nervous.

"What?" Naruto asked. Sasuke and Gaara seemed just as lost.

"We'll explain later," Ino waved them off.

The girls turned around to leave, "Your food is over there," Sakura instructed the guys, "We'll probably be back in a few so save some for us…_Naruto!"_

Naruto smiled, "As long as you hurry…"

The guard on the other end of the kitchen waited impatiently as the girls walked up to him. Just when they got there the guard roughly pushed Sakura to the side, "Not you, bitch."

Sakura gave him a dirty look, "'K, fine," she muttered bitterly, turning to go back, first giving Maria and Ana nervous looks.

Maria gave her a comforting look while Ana mouthed 'we'll be fine,' to their pink haired friend.

Sakura nodded returning to the others while Ana and Maria tolerated being roughly pushed out the kitchen door and to the owner's office building.

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The building even _looked _nicer on the outside then everything else did. It was set on the outskirts of the school, still inside the fencing, and surrounded by guards. Of course this wasn't his house but this is were he spend a lot of his day, going through papers, gladiator status, planning for the next fights, and incoming prisoners. Yep, this is were it all went down; the brain of school, the heart of it.

One of the guards stationed at the door smirked to the solider behind Ana and Maria before opening it for them. The solider grinned back at his buddy before pushing the girls inside the office building.

The inside of the building looked exactly like they expected it would. There were expensive red curtains adorning the windows and pricy gold vases and things occupying the spacious room. In the middle was a large stone table with stacks of papers lying about and a small gold scale off to the side. The owner, or the _lanista _was what he was called, the same guy who had given them their punishments the other day, dressed in expensive robes, sat behind the table in a large cushioned chair. He continued what we was doing even as the girls were shoved in. The solider that had been following them, turned and shut the heavy wooden doors behind them, and then resumed his place next to the girls.

"Sir, I have brought the girls," came the soldier's voice.

The _lanista_ finished what he had been writing down, then lifted his eyes to look at Ana and Maria. He cleared his throat and looked down at a piece of paper quickly then looked up at the girls again.

"Anabella and Maria of group 40?" he asked in a scratchy voice, "I'm I correct?"

The girls nodded.

The _lanista _inhaled and then sat back in his chair, folding his hands neatly in his lap, he had a smug, cocky look on his face, "Do you know why you're here?"

They shook their heads.

The _lanista_ pierced his lips then turned his gaze to specifically Ana, "You impressed me yesterday, Anabella. Your endurance during your punishment was surprising. Most fall unconscious way before you did…even some of my strongest male fighters. Most intriguing, wouldn't you say Gaius?" The _lanista _shifted his eyes to the solider behind the girls.

The solider nodded stiffly letting out at grunt; most likely a yes.

The _lanista_ grinned, showing a mouthful of crooked teeth; some gold. Ana and Maria flinched, looking away to hide their disgust.

He then turned to Maria and addressed her. "And your fight yesterday was pretty impressive as well. Your determination caught my eye and I think you may even have some talent…even though it could use a little work."

There was a long pause when no one said anything.

"Well," the _lanista_ replied now, sitting up right, "You can probably guess what I'm going to say next…congratulations girls; your are now our newest additions to our female gladiators…have fun." He gave them another awful smile, almost whispering the last part evilly.

Maria and Ana both looked over at each other, opening their mouths to say something.

The _lanista _cut them off, "Gaius," he said looking back down at his papers and waving them off with one hand, "get them out of my sight."

The solider, Gaius, grabbed both Maria and Ana roughly around the back of their necks and dragged the out of the building.

As soon as they got outside, a pair of clothes were shoved in their arms by a guard that was standing by the door.

"These are the uniforms that you will wear in the ring. And these…," a large bag was then shoved in each of their hands, "…are your weapons. There is no special training for females so either get someone to teach you or teach yourself…it's your choice cause we sure as hell aren't training you."

With that said, the girls were pushed from near the building toward the kitchens.

"Now get back to work!"

Both girls growled under their breaths as they pushed themselves up and headed back to their friends in the kitchen.

"They sure as hell don't like us for some reason," grumbled Maria when they were out of hearing range.

"No shit," Ana scowled.

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Ana and Maria finally dragged themselves through the kitchen doors, the bags and clothes still in their hands.

Upon seeing them enter, Siyra smirked and held out her hand to Naruto and Shikamaru, "You each owe me 10 coins," she said smugly.

Both men grumbled as they fished through their pockets. Shikamaru handed her all 10 pieces of gold while Naruto only handed her 7, "That's all I got with me," he replied.

"Don't worry," Siyra grinned, eying Naruto suspiciously, "I won't forget."

Ana and Maria dropped their luggage with a frustrated sigh as they came up to their friends.

"Gladiators, huh?" Kiba guessed.

"Yep, your looking at the 'recent additions'," Ana said throwing up her hands. Maria huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well, it's really not all that bad," Ino replied.

"No…what's bad is that they don't even give as a freaking choice," snapped Maria.

"So how long do you have to do this?" Sakura asked.

Maria and Ana both shrugged, still angry and not paying much attention.

"You stay a gladiator the whole time you're here," Neji answered for them, "You still have to work of course, and are freed as soon as your masters are. If one of us is killed in a fight, then instead of being sent to another group, you just finish out the reminder of the years that your master had left," he explained.

"See, so it's not all bad," Siyra assured them.

"You even get to keep the money you earn and at least you don't have to start over if the guys die," Mira added.

Maria and Ana both nodded thoughtfully.

"The only thing is," Ino started, smiling "…they don't train you, so you have to get someone to teach you…which is why you have us!" She grabbed Ana and Maria's hands, smiling brighter, "Of course, Gaara and Sasuke will show you some moves, but we'll help too!" Siyra and Mira nodded.

Naruto started laughing, "What do you girls know!"

Siyra, Mira and Ino all glared at Naruto, "A LOT MORE THEN YOU!" they yelled together. Naruto shrank back covering his ears. Kiba laughed loudly at him.

"How about this: after breakfast we'll take you out to the training grounds and show you a few things?" Siyra suggested grinning.

Ana and Maria nodded and it was settled.

Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kiba all left to go to their rooms saying that they'd be up later to watch.

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After breakfast, the girls headed out for the training grounds. Sakura came too saying that she wanted to watch.

"So do you guys always practice on the training grounds or do you have somewhere else you go?" Maria asked curiously as they walked. Her and Ana were carrying their bag of weapons to practice with; their uniforms stuffed inside, they wouldn't be wearing them though.

"Yeah, always out here after the guys get finished with the equipment, then we use them," Mira answered.

Soon they came up to the empty grounds; abandon training equipment everywhere.

The girls walked out to the center of the grounds where it was the flattest, with a wide empty space. There were even scattered foot prints in the dirt and splattered blood here and there. This was obviously were the males practiced their one on one combat.

"Ok then, lets get started!" Siyra exclaimed. Ana and Maria dropped there stuff where it landed on the ground with a sharp _thud. _

"Alright, I'll show you something Ana, while Siyra can teach Maria," Mira explained, "My technique is probably more like Sasuke's while Siyra's is more like Gaara's so it'll help if we teach you separate."

Ana and Maria nodded. Ino led Sakura off to the side and the two sat down to watch.

Ino pulled two apples from her pocket and gave one to Sakura, "Here, I brought these with me…this is going to be interesting to watch," she smirked. Sakura took the apple and gulped; she wasn't exactly sure what Ino had meant by 'interesting.'.

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Mira and Ana walked a little ways away from Siyra and Maria to give themselves some room. Suddenly Mira turned to face Ana.

"Alright, Sasuke's technique when he fights has to do mostly with speed and endurance. That's what you're going to learn when he takes over training you," Mira explained, "But right now I want to teach you something that I use when I fight, just to give you a head start. Besides I think if you can get this down and ace Sasuke's training you'll be doing pretty damn good. Questions so far?"

Ana let the information sink in before shaking her head.

Mira smirked, "Good," she said, "So Anabella…my next question is; how flexible are you?"

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"Mine and Kiba's fighting styles are a little different then Gaara's, which is what you'll be taught when he takes over, but I'm going to try and get you started on a couple things," Siyra told Maria who listened intently, "Knowing Gaara, he'll want you to be decent when he starts to train you…not that your not decent or anything…it's just that Gaara's picky about this stuff."

Maria nodded, understanding how her 'master' could be.

"Ok so, Gaara's specialty is defense, and that's what I'm going to get you started on," Siyra said as she went over to Maria's weapon bag and pulled out a shield and a long fighting stick. Siyra threw Maria the shield and took her fighting stance with the stick in her hand.

"After yesterday's fights, you proved that your not all that great with defense," Siyra laughed, " Better with offense though. Gaara's probably not too happy with that so we're going to start with defense."

Maria rolled her eyes, "Screw Gaara," she hissed, "He's never happy with anything."

Siyra let out a small laugh, "Trust me Maria, it's easier if you just do what they say. All guys here tend to be really touchy about how they fight. Gaara will want you to have the same technique he does," she explained, "Do us all a favor and do what he says."

"Whatever," Maria huffed.

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Ino and Sakura sat in silence, eating their apples as they watched their friends train.

"So what exactly is going on?" Sakura asked once she finished her apple and threw it aside.

"Well," Ino started looking at Mira and Ana first, "Looks to me like Mira is trying to make Ana's body more flexible…" Ino paused to think for a minute. Slowly a small smile made it's way to her face, "..that's quite clever really…"she mused.

Sakura gave her a confused look, "Why?"

"Sasuke's fighting technique has to do basically with speed and endurance," Ino answered, "Sasuke is probably one of the fastest gladiators you'll ever see, and he has great endurance to back it up too. He defeats he's opponents with pressure points and quick blows. He's good at martial arts too. These are things that Ana will learn when Sasuke takes over her training. What Mira is trying to do is teach Ana something of her own. Mira happens to be really flexible and uses that to her advantage when she fights. If Ana can learn to be as flexible and as fast as Sasuke and put the two talents together, there's not much that would stop her."

Sakura nodded, "That is pretty clever," she agreed, "So what else does Mira use when she fights?"

"Besides her flexibility, Mira uses strength, risky moves, and swordplay when she fights. She actually has her own special weapon that she uses in every fight, it's a spear," Ino answered, "She learned swordplay from Neji who is extremely good at it. Along with that, when he fights he uses speed, endurance and martial arts, much like Sasuke."

Sakura nodded. She then turned her eyes to Maria and Siyra and pointed, "What's their story?" she asked her blonde haired friend.

Ino looked over, "Looks like Siyra's trying to get Maria up on her defense," she explained then gave a small laugh, "it's kinda funny though cause defense isn't exactly Siyra's thing."

"Then what is?" Sakura asked curiously.

"When Siyra fights she uses more offense then defense…come to think of it I think the only ones who really uses defense is Garra and Shikamaru," Ino replied more to herself then Sakura, "…Anyways, Siyra is more strategy and martial arts and she's quite good at swordplay. She has a special weapon like Mira does; she has two 1 ½ length blades that she carries and uses with both hands."

"What about Kiba?" Sakura wanted to know.

"Kiba uses speed and his exceptional martial art skills when he fights," Ino said.

"And Gaara?"

"Gaara uses a lot of defense. He also goes for the risky moves a lot when he goes on the offense but he's got a load of strength to back it up which makes up for any mistakes he might make," Ino told her, "He also tends to use his opponents strength against them too."

Sakura didn't say anything as her and Ino continued to watch their friends train.

The girls stayed like this for at least 2 hours: Mira training Ana, Siyra training Maria, while Ino and Sakura watched in silence, only exchanging a few words but relaxing most of the time.

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It was around lunch time when Sakura and Ino got up and went to the kitchen to make themselves and everyone else lunch.

After making it, then dropping off some of the food at the rooms for the guys, Ino and Sakura carried the rest back up to the grounds for themselves and the other 4 girls who were still training.

Ino and Sakura wrapped their friends' food up when they said they'd eat it later and set it off to this side. Then together they ate their own lunch in the same spot they had sat earlier, once again watching, talking and eating.

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Ino had just finished her lunch when her pink haired friend said, "So Ino, you never told me what you're and Shikamaru's fighting style were."

Ino looked over at Sakura who was looking at her with curious eyes and nibbling on her sandwich. Ino smiled at her friend, "Shikamaru and I both use strategy when we fight. Shika's better at it then me of course…he always says I need to work on it because sometimes I don't think before I make a move. He says I'm going to kill myself one day," Ino laughed loudly, "Other then that, Shikamaru uses martial arts and a little defense. I basically do the same."

Sakura nodded, then hesitated before asking, "And what about Naruto? What does he do?"

"_That_ boy is something else," Ino laughed, "He's decent at swordplay and he has a lot of strength but what he's horrible at is his pig-headedness. Sometimes he makes the most dangerous moves I've ever seen; the most rash…worse then me actually, but somehow he always survives it. He always finds the strength to keep going no matter what, to never give up…I sort of envy him of that."

Sakura laughed, "_No doubt that's what Naruto is good at," _she thought with a smile.

"His risky moves are what pisses Sasuke and Gaara off the most, "Ino added, "Even though they don't show it, Sasuke and Gaara really do care what happens to Naruto… no matter how much they want to deny it. They've been through a lot together, and I think they plan on getting out of this together too."

Sakura thought for a minute, "Yeah, Sasuke and Gaara do like to put on that tough guy act, don't they?"

"Very much so," Ino laughed, then turned serious, "but they just don't know any better. After what they both went through before they got here, and at such a young age, it's a wonder why their not worse then they are."

After hearing the seriousness in her voice, and feeling the thickness in the surrounding air, Sakura changed the subject, "Naruto really is a moron then?" she giggled.

Ino instantly laughed about to say something but someone else beat her to it, "We think so," the voice said.

Ino and Sakura turned their head to look behind them where the voice had come from. It had been Kiba who said that. He walked up to them with a smirk on his face and Akamaru on his shoulder, the rest of the guys following.

"I heard that, Kiba!" Naruto yelled from the back of the group.

"So Ino," Shikamaru replied coming to sit next to his personal maid, "Did you tell Sakura how your just as bad as Naruto at that?"

Ino narrowed her eyes and hit him in the chest, "I am not!" she yelled, "and I'll prove it to you!" With that Ino sprang up and grabbed Shikamaru, dragging him up as well.

"Look what my big mouth got me into this time," he groaned unhappily, "how troublesome."

"Shut up, Shikamaru," Ino snapped grabbing two swords from Ana and Maria's weapon bag and throwing one at Shikamaru, "You think everything is troublesome…lazy ass."

Shikamaru shrugged as he caught the sword and followed Ino out in a open space to fight her.

Kiba, Naruto, and Sakura were laughing the whole time this was going on. Gaara and Sasuke paid no attention, they were too busy watching their knew 'trainees'.

When Siyra, Maria, Ana and Mira all saw that the guys were here and that Ino was seething mad, getting ready to fight Shikamaru, they all immediately quite training and went over to take a break next to the guys and Sakura.

"Hey guys, glad you decided to finally stop for a while," Sakura replied as they girls came over.

"Yeah well, we saw that the Sasuke and Gaara were here and that they might want to take over," Siyra explained breathing heavily.

"That and I want to see Ino and Shikamaru fight," Ana added laughing, wiping sweat from her face with the back of her hand.

"I got money on Shika," Kiba replied.

"I don't know," Maria interrupted, she was bending over catching her breath when she looked up at Kiba and said this, "Ino looks pretty pissed."

All the girls looked exhausted, they were sweating, breathing heavily and looked like they needed some food and a nap. Sasuke and Gaara looked like they could careless though; they weren't thinking about food or rest right now, just more training.

"Ana," Sasuke commanded, getting her attention, "See those tires over there?" he asked pointing to a long line of tires that were sitting in two rows right next to each other.

Ana nodded looking over where all the equipment was and saw what he was talking about.

Sasuke waited for her response before saying, "Go run them."

"Huh?"

"Go. Run. Them."

Ana narrowed her eyes at Sasuke; she didn't like the way he said that.

"Sasuke," Mira butt in, "Ana's been training really hard all day and I'm sure she's tired and hungry, maybe you should let her-"

Sasuke whipped his head around to glare at Mira, "No one asked you," his replied, unemotional, "She's mine to train now and if you don't like the way I train then tell it to my face."

Mira angrily glared at Sasuke and was about to retort when Ana put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry about it Mira," she said, narrowing her eyes at Sasuke.

Mira shut her mouth as Ana turned and started walking in the direction of the tires.

"Maria. Follow her," Gaara commanding, "I want you on the bar next to it."

Maria turned to look at what Garra was referring too. He was obviously taking about the bar that was held about 20 feet from the ground by two pieces of wood. It was the thing that you hang on too and do pull ups on.

Maria turned to look at Gaara to see if he was serious or not; he was. Garra was staring intensely at Maria, indicating that he was 100 serious.

It was Siyra's turn to say something then, but Garra interrupted, "She's a big girl, she can handle it or take a hike," he said simply, "Isn't that right, Maria?"

Maria huffed, glaring at Gaara, then turning and following a very peeved Ana who was also heading to the equipment.

Gaara and Sasuke both smirked as they calmly followed their girls to the equipment to yell at them to work harder once they started.

"This is going to turn out great," Mira replied sarcastically as the guys left. It was only, Neji, Mira, Kiba, Siyra, Naruto, and Sakura now.

"Your telling me…your not the one who has to live with them," Naruto pouted letting out a groan. Sakura nodded her agreement.

"That's gonna suck," Neji muttered.

"Oh well, too bad for you!" Kiba yelled at Naruto happily, "Now lets go make bets on Ino and Shikamaru! And later we can watch Ana, Maria, Sasuke and Gaara…that should be interesting with all the yelling they'll be doing at each other…!"

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It was way passed dark and Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Naruto, Ino, Siyra, Sakura, and Mira had all retired for the night, when Sasuke and Gaara came back to the rooms with the girls slowly trailing behind, completely exhausted and in the worst mood possible. Ana and Maria didn't even get a chance to change or bathe before they collapsed on the couch right on top of each other and instantly fell asleep.

No one objected seeing that if they did, Ana and Maria would probably slit their throats.

"At least it's quite," Sasuke had muttered before going off to his room.

Gaara nodded, defiantly agreeing.

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Oh buddy that took a long time!! For some reason I just couldn't seem to get it right…. Hope it turned out ok I just have some much going on in my head right now…I just keep thinking of new stories which I really don't need right now cause I have plenty on my plate already.

Hope you enjoyed! Always looking for knew options about what story to do next, their posted on my profile…which I update and with a new story summary! …dang that's a mouth full…

---rayluva4


	8. And More Training Still

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE-** lol yes, it's a very addicting and bad habit!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix-** thank you for your reviews, I love them! And don't worry, the other guys and girls will be in later chapters….

**Chapter 8: …And More Training Still**

"Aww, how cute…" Sasuke faked sympathy, "…get up. Now."

But the two sleeping girls on the couch did not get up. Maria's hand twitched while Ana moved her arm into a different position; both still fast asleep. Maria was curled up on one end of the couch, her knees slightly bent. Ana's head was resting on Maria's thigh, using it as a pillow and her arm was dangling off the couch while her hair was fanned out and in Maria's face, who didn't seem to mind at all. This was how both girls had fallen asleep last night after collapsing on top of one another after training; neither of them had moved an inch since.

Gaara came out of his room with a pillow in his hand, went over to the girls and hit them both hard on the head with it. "Get your lazy asses up."

Maria and Ana both groaned loudly and started to move around a little and stretch. Ana was the first to open her eyes. She looked around, "What the hell. How early is it? No one's even up yet."

Maria opened to eyes and looked around also with an annoyed expression on her face, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"We're going out to train and your coming with us," came Sasuke's firm reply.

"What?" Ana asked wide eyed now and fully awake, "You have to be shitin' me! We just got done training…what 5 fricking hours ago?"

Maria glared hard at the boys.

Gaara shrugged, "I don't care when we got done. Your going out and doing it again," he commanded, "You need a lot more practice cause right now you suck."

Maria felt like punching Gaara's face right then; she glared at him. Some days she could stand him, some days she loved to be around him, and some days she just wanted to kill him.

"Look," Ana said now in a softer voice but still with a hard edge to it, trying to reason with the two males, "We're tired, we're hungry, and we haven't even bathed since yesterday morning."

Sasuke gave a flat, uninterested smile, "Does it look like I give a rat's ass how you feel?" he asked. "Like I said before: Get. Up. Now." Sasuke threw the training clothes he had in his hands at the Ana and Maria.

It was Ana's turn now to glare and fantasize about killing the Uchiha.

Both girls reluctantly got up, snatched up their clothes, and stomped off to the bathroom to change.

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5 minutes later, Ana and Maria came out of the bathroom ready to go. Gaara and Sasuke were already next to the door, waiting for them with the a bag of weapons slung over each of their shoulders.

Ana self -consciously pulled at the cloth that she was wearing as a top, while Maria tugged at the skirt she was wearing. Both girls had on the female gladiator uniform and weren't all that thrilled about it.

"Is it really necessary to wear these?" Ana asked, annoyed.

Sasuke shrugged, "You have to fight in them, why not get used to it now?" He and Gaara turned to walk out the door. "Besides, it wouldn't hurt to show off some skin. That's what your hear for isn't it? Entertain us? I seriously doubt anyone will object to seeing you in that." Sasuke smirked. Gaara inwardly smirked to himself also.

Both Ana and Maria seriously debated how good their chances were of jumping the boys, winning, then running.

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Once the group got to the training grounds, they started immediately. The sun still wasn't out yet since it was still early, and there was a nice breeze to go with the early morning air which was already starting to get humid.

The boys started the girls out with the same thing they ended with last night, which was pull ups, push ups, and sit ups for Maria to build her strength, and sprinting through tires that were lined up for Ana to build her speed and endurance.

The sun was finally starting to come up and the air getting even hotter, when they guys finally decided to start the real training.

Sasuke brought Ana over to where the bag of weapons were. He undid the tie and reached in, pulling out a small brown bag with which he also undid and pulled out a small thin metal needle that was about as long as the length of your fingers to your wrists.

"This is my main weapon," Sasuke replied holding up the needle to show Ana. He set the bag that the needle had just come out of on the ground. Ana could hear the sound of the other needles hitting each other; she wondered just how many were in there.

"This is what I use to numb and temporarily paralyze my opponents by stabbing them with these in their pressure points," Sasuke explained, "Watch." Before Ana could blink, Sasuke slid down on one knee in front of Ana and had poised the needle over the side of her ankle, ready to strike.

Ana gasped in surprise; he was so fast!

Sasuke smirked, "If I were to stab you with this in the side of the ankle here, your foot would go numb and you wouldn't be able to use it for at least 20 seconds. Plenty of time for me to knock you over and slit your throat." He put the needle down to the side of him, "These are the pressure points in the leg…" Sasuke lightly touched the side of Ana's ankle that he was talking about before, the back of her knee, then slowly reached up and touched the inside of her mid thigh.

Ana held in another gasp, as something washed over her; she bit her lower lip. Every placed that Sasuke had just touched seemed to tingle, but when his fingers touched the inside of her thigh, she thought she was going to go crazy. Why was her skin so sensitive there? What was this? Desire? Lust? Wanting for him to touch her there again, to feel the warm of his touch as it slowly made it's way up father…

"Oh my god, stop!" she thought frantically, _"What's wrong with me? Hormones? Yeah, that's it…blame it on the hormones. It was not my fault…"_she thought frantically,

A tinge of red appeared on Ana's cheeks as she thought this and continued to bit her lip.

Sasuke noticed this and smirked, "Following so far?"

Ana nodded. "_No. How can I follow when you keep touching me like that?! What straight girl wouldn't feel what I feel? Just look at his face, he's toying with me that little bastard! _Just a second ago she was fighting the urge not to moan, now she was fighting the urge not to punch the guy.

"Good. You'll have to remember those. I'll show you where they are in the arms too, later." Sasuke picked up the needle and stood up to face Ana. He handed her the needle, "Try to hit me in any one of those places."

"Huh?"

"Just do it."

"Uh, ok," Ana replied, taking the needle from his hand. "_Ha! Now's my chance to get him."_

Ana quickly tried the move that Sasuke had just pulled on her, aiming for his ankle, but he easily blocked it. Then she tried for the other spots, whish he also blocked. Ana tried again and again, using the new speed and flexibility she had gained to try and get him, but he blocked every one.

"Alright," Ana finally replied, frustrated, "Where exactly is this going?"

"That is how you properly defend attacks like that," Sasuke answered, "Those hits you tried weren't that bad and I like the way your body can bend like that which will come in handy, but if you defend those kind of attacks like this, then they won't get you."

"I'm going to teach you how to defend them, go around it, use your speed and flexibility to quickly strike and take down your opponent, and which points to aim at."

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While Sasuke and Ana were training, Gaara took Maria over to his bag of weapons and spilled the contents of the bag onto the ground.

"This," he replied, shoving a large shield into Maria's chest, "is your main weapon and most important; you do not need to lose it like you did in the last fight or you will die. Next time you fight it will be against a human who will be must more clever then a tiger and if you lose your shield, he will not hesitate to take advantage of that. Understand?"

Maria nodded.

"I'm going to show you how to properly defend, strike, and use your opponents own strength to your advantage," Gaara explained as he gather another shield and two long wooden sticks. He led Maria out, away from the bag and threw her one of the sticks.

"When someone is coming at you and you put up your shield, at the last minute I want you to stick up your spear or sword or whatever and stab them. Pretty basic, but it sometimes works," Gaara explained flatly.

Maria nodded, trying it. She bent her knees slightly, positioned her shield over her body, and quickly stuck out her stick.

"Alright, throw that stick aside," Gaara commanded. Maria did as she was told and threw the sick way off to the side and out of the way. Gaara did the same with his. Now they both only had their shields.

"Now I want you to ran at me and try to push me off balance using only your shield," Gaara replied.

Maria nodded, "_Ok I guess," _she thought.

Maria positioned her shield in front of her body and ran straight toward Gaara, who also lifted his shield, ready for her. A loud _bang_ could be heard as Maria's shield came in contact with Gaara's. In under the 3 seconds following , Maria was on her back on the ground; Gaara had used his strength and his own shield to push her 's back and knock her to the ground.

"Is that it?" Gaara asked looking down at her, irritated, "You'll have to do better then that, it's a wonder why your even still alive. Pathetic. Do it again."

Maria glared at him hard as she pulled herself up and grabbed her shield, ready to do it again and this time determined to knock that bastard's ass on the ground. Unfortunately, she didn't though. She was back on her butt the second time. Gaara had again over powered her.

"Again…"

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It was a little after breakfast when Sakura and Naruto joined them.

"Hey guys!" Naruto greeted, waving.

Maria looked over from her spot on the ground where she had just been pushed by Gaara again. She rubbed her dirty and sore butt. "_God, how long have I been doing this?" _she wondered as she half-heartedly waved back to Naruto.

"Hey guys," Ana greeted slowly as she collapsed on her butt from exhaustion. Her legs didn't want to move anymore, they were tired of moving so fast, and her arms were sore from bruises from learning how to block Sasuke's attacks.

"Well, I think you guys need a break, you've been doing this all morning!" Sakura exclaimed coming over to the two girls. She had two plates in her hands that had some left over food. "Here, I brought breakfast…I'm sorry there's not a lot though, it's all they would let me have. I was sure you were both really hungry."

Maria and Ana's eyes widened, "Sakura we love you!" they screamed together. Sakura smiled as she watched her friends get up as quickly as their tired bodies would let them and rush over to her. Sakura thought she was going to have her arms ripped off when Maria and Ana started grabbing for their plates.

As soon as the girls got their food, they instantly plopped down right were they were, and started shoveling food into their mouths.

Don't worry," Naruto said now to Sasuke and Gaara, "I didn't forget about you guys." He threw them each an apple from inside his pockets.

"Great, it was in your pocket…" Gaara muttered darkly.

"Hey, just be happy you got that. You almost didn't get any since Ana and Maria weren't in the kitchen with the rest of the women when they were supposed to be," Naruto growled.

Sakura ignored the bickering men and sat down in front for her friends and started to curiously watch them wolf down their food. In 1 minute flat, it was gone.

"Mmmm…"Ana hummed as she laid herself down on her back and patted her stomach.

"You can say that again," Maria agreed, doing the same and closing her eyes, "That hit the spot."

Ana nodded and yawned, turning on her side.

In the next minute, both girls were sleep.

Naruto looked down at them, "Well would you look at that," he chuckled evilly.

Sakura could tell he was thinking of something to wake them up, "Don't Naruto," she warned firmly, "let them sleep."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest, "Fine."

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Sasuke and Garra allowed Maria and Ana to sleep a little, while they finished their apples and relaxed themselves. Sakura had already left to do chores, and Naruto to train.

Sasuke looked over at Ana. She was really starting to come around in the training…she was getting better…and damn those are some nice legs…_"No way. Not now. We're out here to train, this is serious." _Sasuke thought back to the cute blush that had found it's way to her cheeks and neck when he touched her inner thigh. He looked over her legs now, creamy skin bathed in the sunlight. He wanted too so bad when he touched her for some reason…just a little higher…_"Damn my hormones and these thoughts! What's wrong with me? I really need to keep my mind in check. This is not why I'm here." _Sasuke shook his head, trying to get images out of his head. He lusted her, that much was certain, and he knew it. She was attractive by his standards. But if he lusted for her so bad, then why didn't he just take her? He was allowed too…no one was going to stop him or even care. It had to be more then, what else could be keeping him? _"Hn. Whatever."_

Gaara saw Sasuke staring at Ana then shake his head; he smirked inwardly. "_Idiot. Can't keep himself balanced, that will be his down fall." _Gaara doesn't do that, he doesn't let his mind get side tracked with wasteful thoughts…or so he likes to think. He'd never admit it, not even to himself…but there are times when he finds himself staring at Maria, trying to figure her out. Maria intrigue Gaara for some reason, this was something new to him and it was frustrating. He wanted to figure her out, know what she's thinking. Maria's strong, yet fragile in some ways; determined to do whatever she can for herself, her friends, and to survive, but sometimes too shy to speak exactly what she's thinking. Opposites. Like split personalities or maybe just a lot of mood swings._" Why do women have to be so damn confusing…"_

Sasuke and Gaara eventually got the girls up and training again, and they worked straight through lunch.

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It was a little after lunch; the heat of the day, and not one of the four people training were in a very good mood.

Maria was still getting pushed on her butt. Gaara had insisted on continuing that damn strength drill after they ate, and they were still doing it.

Maria cursed sinfully out loud, then replied softer, "Someone just shoot me in the head."

"I would if it would get you to shut up and do this right," Gaara replied calmly to Maria's out burst. Maria glared hard at him. Just a little while ago he had actually praised her for getting her footing right in the defensive stance for the drill. Yes, Gaara, AKA Mr. Grumpy, had actually praised her for something…what happened to that?! Now she was doing it wrong again? _"I wish he's just make up his bloody mind." _

Ana was having just about the same amount of luck Maria was having. She was getting fast, really fast and she was extremely quick on her feet…but for some reason she wasn't blocking Sasuke's attacks right and hitting the exact points in the legs that she was suppose too.

"My leg has yet to go numb today, Ana," Sasuke had told her smuglyAfter he had told her that, she told him to go fuck himself. He just laughed at her. "_Screw him."_

Just when both girls thought they were going to go insane, they spotted Sakura running toward them. Maria and Ana looked at each other both thinking that same thing, "_Food! Break time!" _But as Sakura got closer, the girls saw that she was not carrying any type of food or anything edible whatsoever, but her eyes were wide with worry and her face was alert.

Sakura stopped when she got close and bent over her knees to catch her breath. Maria and Ana both stopped to look at her to see what was so important, even Sasuke and Gaara stopped and looked at her curiously.

"Ana!" Sakura finally gasped as she gulped down more air for her lungs, "Your sisters…they're here!"

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Oh boy. Well now, there you go. Hope you enjoyed it and I'm gonna try to update as soon as I can. I already have the whole story in my head I just have to find the time to type it. I'm just so busy with school sports every night and homework…yuk. But anyway I'll try to update the next chapter soon which should be interesting cause Ana's sisters are there so that's going to cause some trouble…and also I'm going to update "Just Wanna Be Me" pretty soon so be on the look out!

PS: We're getting close to the ending…I'm thinking like maybe…idk…4 more chapters…just thought I'd tell ya. And also to give me some opinions on what story to start after this. There's some posted on my profile if your interested.

Love all of you so much!!!

---rayluva4


	9. Pleasure vs Pain

And once again I apologize for the lateness of yet another chapter. I tried really hard so I hope you enjoy it. Also I would like to warn you that there is a slight lemon toward the end of the chapter. If you don't want to read it then just skip over it…they'll be a little more of the chapter after it so remember not to skip over that part!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix**-hey babe thanks! This chapter's for you!

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE**- lol yes things are defiantly starting to heat up. Does Gaara really love Maria…?…Hmmm…guess we'll have to find out! Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything so stop rubbing it in. I do however own Ana and the pain I inflict on her! Mahahahahah!

**Chapter 9: Pleasure vs. Pain**

_Sakura stopped when she got close and bent over her knees to catch her breath. Maria and Ana both stopped to look at her to see what was so important, even Sasuke and Gaara stopped and looked at her curiously._

_"Ana!" Sakura finally gasped as she gulped down more air for her lungs, "Your sisters…they're here!"_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Ana stared blankly at her pink haired friend unbelievably, not sure if she had heard her right. "What?"

Sakura took another large breath, finally calming down. She stood upright and looked intensely at Ana now. "Your sisters, Ana…they're here, at the gladiator school," Sakura bit her lower lip nervously, "I don't think they've been here long…I think they just got here. They're with the _lanista_, he's trying to figure out what to do with them…"

Ana immediately dropped the needles that she was using earlier and started running in the direction of the _lanista_'s office; she didn't need to hear any more from Sakura. The _lanista_ was deciding what to do with them, or in other words, who they will belong to; Ana needed to be there and make sure it was her. Who knew what would happen to them if it was anybody else here.

Sasuke and Gaara stared at Ana's retreating form with surprised expressions, then glanced at Sakura.

"Your kidding right?" Maria asked, "Her sister's can't really be here…they're too young…"

"Well, obviously they can…" Sakura answered sadly.

"What are we waiting for then?" Maria asked, dropping the shield she had been using and starting to run in the same direction Ana did. Sakura sighed and followed.

Sasuke and Gaara hesitated; they glanced at each other and silently agreed that this didn't look like it would turn out good so they'd better go too. They quickly packed up their weapons and left for the _lanista_'s office.

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Ana ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her. She nervously bit her lip, wondering what her sister's did to get dumped here anyway.

Ana could see the _lanista_ Office just ahead…or, could kind of see it; there was a group of people that had formed a circle around the front of it so she couldn't see much.

Ana pushed her way through the crowd, breathing heavily until she finally broke through and to the middle of the crowd….and there they were: Cassandra and Serenity, Ana's sisters. The two children with their innocent eyes and fragile bodies seemed to stand out very much against all the dirty, big men. Ana was also mildly aware that the _lanista_ along with about 6 other guards were standing off to the side, a few feet away from the two little girls. He was dressed in expensive robes and was holding a piece of parchment; reading silently from it obviously.

Ana couldn't help but smile at her two younger sisters. Yes, she was upset and confused about them being here and surrounded by all these guys, but Ana hadn't seen them in a while or even new if they were ok. Seeing them now, knowing they were ok, even if they were a bit dirty and scratched, brought a smile to her face.

Serenity was the elder of Cassandra, at 11 years old with light brown hair tied in a messy twist at the base of her neck, making her look a little older then she really was, and crystal blue eyes like Ana. Cassandra was 8 years old, the youngest out of the sisters and about a half a head shorter then Serenity. She had white hair like Ana's that was in two pigtail braids that went half way down her back and dark blue eyes.

Serenity had a small protective arm around Cassandra when Ana first saw them; she was try hard to glare and look threatening at the older men to protect her sister. Ana had to smile lovingly at that.

Cassandra was the first to see Ana as she pushed her way through the crowd. Her once scared eyes lit up now like a light bulb and she smiled big. "Ana!"

Serenity whipped her head around and beamed brightly also. Both sisters had the look of relief on their faces as well.

"Cassie…Serena!" Ana smiled pushing her way through two more people to get to her sisters in the middle of the crowd. Ana kneeled down in front of the two younger girls and held her arms open. Cassandra and Serenity happily launched themselves into their older sister's arms.

Ana squeezed them tighter into her, "I missed you guys so much," she whispered to them.

"We missed you too, sissy," Cassie answered.

Ana smiled warmly but she could still hear some of them men now. They were laughing and some of them were mocking and taunting them. Ana ignored them and wondered if Maria, Sakura and the rest of the group were there yet. Sure enough when she looked up from hugging her sisters, there they were; Maria, Sakura, Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto had made there way to the front of the crowd. Maria and Sakura smiled warmly at Ana and her sisters.

Ana finally let go to stare intensely at her sisters now. "What happen?" she asked them firmly, "Why are you here?"

Serenity and Cassandra instantly lost their smiles and shared a quick sad glance at one another.

The _lanista_, who had overheard, cleared his throat loudly; he looked up form the parchment he was holding to look at Ana with a smug smile. "I'm very sorry to inform you, but it says here…" he said motioning to the parchment, "…that your mother has recently passed on and was found dead in the streets and immediately taken care of…" The _lanista_ smirked, he didn't look the least bit sorry and it made Ana sick with hate; she turned from her sisters to glared hard at him.

"Anyway…" the _lanista_ continued, "…Your sisters were caught stealing and since they have no home to go to, they are considered criminals of the state and were therefore sent here, and will be put to work like regular women."

Ana balled up her fists angrily and turned to her sisters again. Once she saw their sad eyes though, her face softened. Ana put a gentle hand to the side of each of their faces, "Momma finally died, huh?" she asked gently, biting her lip. Cassandra, the youngest, nodded slowly, tears welded up in her eyes.

Ana put the pad of her thumb to Cassandra's upper cheek and wiped a single tear away.

"She wanted to say goodbye," Serenity added quietly, "She said she loved you."

Ana nodded, kissing Serenity's forehead, "It'll be ok," she assured them, trying not to cry; trying to be strong for them. Now since they were orphans, Ana had to take lead; she had to be the solid rock of the family, to take care of them now. "You're here now and we're together, I'm going to take care of you," she said in a firm voice, "I'll make sure none of these pervs will touch you."

The _lanista_ laughed behind her, "Oh, that reminds me…the girls won't be staying with you…I've already assigned them a group."

Ana slowly turned around and stared at him in disbelief, not sure if she had heard him right.

"What?"

"Your sister's aren't staying with you."

"Then who the hell…" Ana stared to say but was cut off by a cold, mocking voice she could never forget.

"They're with me," came the voice. Zabuza stepped out and away from the crowd to the center so Ana could see him and the nasty smirk he was showing off.

Ana's breath hitched in her throat, "What!?" she yelled, voice cracking from anger; this couldn't be happening. "They're my sisters! How could you not let them stay with me!?" She turned to the _lanista_, looking at him and impatiently demanding an answer. Cassandra and Serenity shyly stepped back.

The _lanista_ shrugged, seeming uninterested, "You, nor any member of you group was here to claim them at the time, so I gave them away…"

Ana eyes nearly popped out of her head and her face was turning red with anger. She took a couple steps toward the _lanista_. "You can't do that! They don't even deserve to be here, they're too young! And do you have any idea what that creep Zabuza will do to them?! They're only 11 and 8 years old for crying out loud!"

The guards that were around the _lanista_, stepped forward, weapons out, ready to take Ana if she attack their master.

The _lanista _shrugged again bravely, behind his protection, "The younger they are, the sooner we train them to be female gladiators and the better they'll be…they're pretty good looking too…that'll help greatly," he smirked evilly.

Ana's blood went pouring over the edge and her anger took the better of her; she suddenly launched herself at the _lanista_. The soldiers immediately reacted though, ready for her and threw her roughly to the ground.

Cassandra, with wide eyes, started to run to Ana when she hit the ground but Serenity held her back.

Ana growled as she got up; her lip was slightly bleeding from biting it when she fell, but she quickly wiped it away. "Look at them!" she yelled to the _lanista_ and then pointing at her younger sisters, "how could you do that to them?! Do you have any idea what will happen to them?!"

The _lanista_ smiled and stared to turn away, "It's my job, sweetheart," he said, "Besides, the sooner the better…"

Ana stared at him in disbelief; what was she going to do now?

Zabuza took this as he queue to come forward and claim his prize; he started to walk toward Serenity and Cassandra.

Serenity protectively put Cassandra behind her as Zabuza approached them with a nasty smile on his face.

Ana started to panic; how was she going to get them out of this? She did the only thing she could think of to save her sisters: she threw herself between them and Zabuza. "Whatever you want, Zabuza…!" she yelled desperately, "…I'll do it, just leave them alone." Ana hated putting herself so low, she felt helpless; she thought pigs would fly before she would ever be caught on her knees, begging Zabuza for something. But if this was the only way to save Cassandra and Serenity, then Ana would do it hundred times over.

The smirk on Zabuza's face grew bigger, if it was possible, and something seemed to come together in his eyes, like some big plan had just been completed or even created. Ana's heart pumped faster from sudden fear and nerves under that evil smirk and those lustful eyes of his.

"I want to fight you…right here, right now," Zabuza answered.

From where he was walking off, the _lanista_ stopped and turned around after he heard the challenge, "A fight?" he asked eagerly, with one eyebrow raised in interest, "that sounds like a great idea."

Ana looked up at Zabuza, glaring at him now; she saw the plans he was making reflecting in his eyes and she didn't like the look of them.

"If you win…" Zabuza continued, "…then I'll leave you and your sisters in peace…"

Ana raised an eyebrow, "But…?" She knew it was coming.

"But if _I_ win, then you are mine for the rest of the night…but your sisters are still free to go, I won't touch them…" Zabuza grinned; you could tell he was pretty pleased with himself. Ana on the other hand gulped nervously.

"You don't have to do anything!" Sasuke demanded from his place in the crowd, "I will fight him."

Ana looked over to Sasuke; his eyes were hard and his face was set into a angry frown. Ana's heart swelled inside her chest; he wanted to fight for her?

Zabuza's head snapped in Sasuke and his group's direction, he glared at the dark haired boy, "I didn't challenge you, Uchiha," he snapped. Zabuza then turned back to Ana, the smirk rising back to the surface, "Think about it, babe…it's a win-win situation…either way your sisters are safe. The only way they wouldn't be is if you refuse my offer…"

Ana bit her lip. It was a win-win situation for her…or her sisters at least. But what was the chances of defeating Zabuza and leaving with herself and her sisters, she wondered. Zabuza, she knew, had been here a long time, he was probably one of the best gladiators in the school…vs. she, who had just starting learning this stuff a day ago.

Ana slowly looked back at her sisters: Serenity was holding Cassandra protectively, trying not to look up at Ana and meet her gaze while Cassandra was looking straight at her eldest sister with a confused expression.

Ana clenched her fists; how could she ever let anything happen to them, they were still innocent, and if Ana could help it then it would be that way for a while longer--Ana knew what she had to do.

She turned and looked up at Zabuza, meeting his gaze. Ana put on a hard, determined stare, so he would not see how truly scared she was; she knew the consequences if she lost, which was a really good chance, but she was determined to face them bravely and protect the only family she had left.

Ana sighed heavily, continuing to look at Zabuza, "I accept," she stated bravely.

Zabuza's smirk got even bigger, if it was possible.

The crowd of men that had been watching started murmuring and moving about excitedly, looking forward to the fight already: a women vs. a man; if the women lost, her dignity was on the line, if he lost, his pride was. This was exciting to them.

Sasuke gritted his teeth angrily, "Damn it, Ana," he hissed. Sakura and Maria both looked over at him, worriedly.

The _lanista_ clapped his hands excitedly, "Wonderful!" he exclaimed. The soldiers started pushing everyone back to make room, and Zabuza stepped back from Ana while he waited form someone to bring him his weapons.

Ana turned around to face her sisters, "Don't worry guys," she said taking their hands and looking at them reassuringly, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"We're not worry about us…" Serenity started.

"That man is going to kill you," Cassandra whimpered, her lips starting to quiver.

Ana smiled warmly, "He's not going to kill me Cassie…" she said squeezing her hand.

"No, but he'll do worse…" Serenity added sadly, looking away from Ana again.

Ana bit her lip, "Hey," she whispered, gently rubbing her fingers over theirs affectionately, "That's only if I lose," she smiled, "It's going to be ok."

Cassandra and Serenity kept silent as Ana turned them around and led them over to her group of friends.

Sakura and Maria gave Ana sad smiles as she approached, "Don't do it, Ana," Sakura pleaded quietly.

"I have to."

Sakura sighed.

"Good luck," Maria smiled warmly, even though her eyes conveyed worry.

Ana nodded then turned to her sisters and put a warm hand on each of her their heads, "These are my friends," she told them, "They'll take care of you."

Serenity and Cassie nodded.

"Please watch them closely," Ana pleaded to Sakura and Maria.

Sakura nodded. "No one will touch them," Maria assured her.

Ana turned to the guys now. Sasuke was digging through the weapons bag and finally pulled something out and gave it to Ana. It was the small bag of needles. She took them and he also handed her a sword and a couple of small knives. She strapped the needles and knives into a pouch around her upper thigh and placed the sword in a small holder around her waist.

"Aim at his legs," Sasuke instructed, "Use your speed. Zabuza is an excellent fighter, and a brutal one, but that sword of his can slow him down…use this to your advantage."

Ana nodded, thanking him and showing she understood. She then looked to Gaara and Naruto, then kneeled down to her sisters one more time. She placed both hands on the sides of Cassandra's head and gently kissed the top of her hair, "Behave," she told her sternly, "Listen to Sakura and Maria."

She did the same to Serenity but instead said, "Look after your sister." Both sisters nodded, and Ana turned around to walk back to the middle of the crowd, which had gotten bigger, and stopped to face Zabuza.

"This is ridicules, Zabuza's has never been beaten. Ana has no chance; she might as well kiss her virginity goodbye," Sasuke hissed under his breath bitterly, "he such a disgusting prick."

"He's never lost?" Sakura asked.

"Obviously he's never faced us though," Naruto added confidently.

Sakura hit him on the head and glared at him. "This is hardly the time to be joking around, Naruto."

Maria felt a soft tug on her clothes; she looked down to see the smallest of Ana's sisters, Cassandra, looked fearfully up at her. "Is Ana going to be ok?" she asked.

Maria looked sadly into the child's deep, dark blue eyes and signed; she couldn't lie to her. "I don't know sweetheart…maybe she'll be the first to show him the losing side of a fight."

Somebody had already given Zabuza his weapon when Ana turned from her friends to walk to the middle of the circle and face him. The girl's jaw dropped as she eyed the weapon the man was carrying.

Zabuza's choice of weapon was a humongous sword, probably as big as Ana, and it was pretty thick too; she could see how it would slow him down a bit, but that didn't stop the fear that was slowly starting to creep up on her.

"_Use your speed, aim for his legs…use your speed, aim for his legs…" _Sasuke's voice repeated in her panicked mind. Ana gulped as she eyed the giant blade again…damn it looked sharp…probably could cut through 5 people at once…

These thoughts weren't helping at all. She couldn't back down…this had to be done. "_Think about your sisters…" _she told herself as she put on the bravest face she could muster and slowly stepped closer to Zabuza, indicating she was ready to fight. As soon as this fight started, it didn't matter what happened; her sisters would be safe either way, this clamed Ana down a bit.

The sun brightly shone off of Zabuza's blade as he also stepped forward with a dry smirk on his face.

"So sweetheart," he started, as they approached each other face to face, "Where shall be start tonight? My room's a little messy right now, so I was thinking we could start off in the main room on the couch, then slowly work our way into Orochimaru's bedroom…I'm sure he won't mind…he could maybe even join in if he wants to, but only if I feel like sharing…" Zabuza flashed Ana a yellow smile. He was talking to her as if it was a normal, innocent conversation about the weather.

Not only did his teeth disgust her, but his words did too; Ana just about threw up in her mouth. His words did spark her anger though and now she could feel the flow of adrenaline starting to rush through her. The feel of it was exhilarating and now she was determined to win.

"Cocky bastard," Ana spat at Zabuza, but she gave a slight smirk as her eyes flashed; all nervousness and fear gone, replaced with sear determination.

The _lanista _smirked happily from his place in front of the crowd, but a safe distance from the fight, as he caught bits of the conversation going on between the two fighters in the middle. He didn't want to wait for the fight any longer and he could tell neither did the crowd as they were getting restless. He lived for this. "Begin!"

Zabuza and Ana didn't need to be told twice. As soon as they hear the _lanista_, their weapons clashed. Metal met metal as it scraped against the other as the two people pushed against one another to begin the fight.

Ana pushed with all her might with her own sword against his giant one; she could hear the crowd of gladiator roaring with excitement. Is this what it felt like to be in the Coliseum fighting, she wondered? If it was, then she was thought she might enjoy being a female gladiator after all: the adrenaline rushing through your body, mixed with anger toward the person your fighting, the cheering of the crowd, and the will to survive was overpowering. Ana could suddenly see why people came to watch it: two people battling it out, fighting on nothing but adrenaline, anger and instinct. Maybe it was just her though, maybe she was weird for thinking this? Or maybe she was just a natural born fighter, made to stand up and protect herself and the ones she loved.

Zabuza pushed harder against Ana's small sword compared to his. He smirked as her body started to arch back against his power.

Ana mind quickly stared working for something to counter this. She pushed Zabuza back with all her might and managed to escape form under his sword and step back a few yards.

Ana barley had time to congratulate herself as Zabuza came barreling toward her, anger playing in his features and demon sword raised high.

As Zabuza came down upon her, Ana reacted by quickly swinging her sword above her head and deflecting his sword with hers. Not wasting another second, Ana dropped her sword and slid down to her knees, and glided under his separated legs, and out to the other side, behind him. Still on the ground, she pulled out two needle from the pouch on her leg and forcefully stabbed each of Zabuza's legs, right behind his knees, right on his pressure points. And then she was up on her feet again and facing his back.

Sasuke watched as one second Ana was being charged at and the next she was behind Zabuza, having slid under him and stabbed his pressure points all in one quick and graceful move. Sasuke was both surprised and impressed by how fast she had just moved. The speed, flexibility, and quick thinking was playing to her advantage. By the look in her eye's, Sasuke could tell she was enjoying it too; just a couple more weeks worth of training and Ana was going to be a deadly opponent for anybody in the Coliseum.

Sasuke could tell just by looking at Ana that she was a natural fighter; she just had that look that showed she had determination and guts, and the past to prove she had will power. It was obvious to him that Maria was a natural too. Both the girls would be a deadly combination pair in the Coliseum.

Ana let her face relax into a triumphant smile as Zabuza grunted from the sudden sharp pains in the back of his legs. He tried to turn to face her but he realized that he couldn't move his legs; Zabuza let out a howl of anger while Ana's smile became a smirk.

"I see Uchiha has been training you," Zabuza growled unhappily as he pulled the thin needles out of his legs and, instead of turning his feet around to face her, he turned his head to her.

"Scared?" Ana asked sharply as she raised an eyebrow to him.

This made Zabuza smile slyly, "No, not at all."

"_Be careful Ana_," Sasuke thought, "

Sasuke's thoughts went unheard as Ana scowled at the man before her, "Your just mad your pride's been hurt," she spat, "and now I'm going to kill you."

Zabuza didn't flinch, "Go ahead and try, sweetheart."

Ana's eyes narrowed. "

Ana charged at Zabuza then, taking a knife out of her pouch around her leg and barring it in front of her. Right when she was about to sink the weapon into his back, Zabuza swung his giant sword around behind him and blocked her assault, all while his feet stayed firmly in place.

…30...

…29...

…28...

Ana growled and quickly, with her other hand, took out another knife, went around his thick blade, and stabbed him in the shoulder instead.

Zabuza let out an enraged, painful yell, as blood started to seep from his shoulder. He managed to swing his elbow around and knock Ana in the face, sending her staggering back for her balance and a bloody lip.

Zabuza's legs gave out then, still numb, and he crashed to the ground on his butt, looking over at her annoyed and angry.

Ana glared at her hated opponent and wiped the blood from her lip.

…20...

…19...

…18...

Zabuza at first glared back at her, but then his scowled suddenly faded to a light smirk. "Ana, you have no idea how sexy you look when your mad…it's really starting to turn me on, if you know what I mean…

Ana snorted; oh, this man was really going to get it.

"Nothing stupid Ana, he's trying to get under your skin!" Sasuke yelled from his spot in the crowd.

Ana heard his warning but ignored it; she ran straight for the perv.

…10...

…9...

…8...

When his opponent was close enough, Zabuza swung out his sword toward her, trying to slash her right at the waist, but Ana was faster; she arched her body and her back bent back so that Zabuza's sword missed her and slashed the air above her where her middle would have been.

…7...

…6...

…5...

Ana had barely a heartbeat to straightened her self back up, when Zabuza came with another attack from his place on the ground. This time he tried to slash at her ankles, but Ana jumped over the blade.

…4...

…3...

Zabuza could feel his legs starting to come back; there was a throbbing, tickling sensation in them and they started to twitch back to life.

…2...

To distract her, Zabuza quickly grabbed a hand full of dirt and sand off of the ground and threw it at her face and it flew into her eyes. Ana cried out, frustrated as she turned her head and tried to get it out.

…1...

Zabuza felt a little bit of life coming back to his legs and with the little strength and feeling he had in them now, he swung his limbs out and tripped Ana, knocking her hard to the ground on her back.

Ana yelled from fright. She had just got the dirt out of her eyes and then she was suddenly knocked over and onto her butt!

Zabuza quickly crawled over to Ana, dragging his sword; struggling with his still slightly weak legs, and placed the blade up against Ana's bare neck, and pushed down, puncturing her skin a bit.

Ana felt the knife cut the surface of her skin and a small trickle of blood flow from it.

Zabuza smirked heavily, and his eyes danced with sickening excitement. "Looks like your mine tonight," he whispered close to her face.

Ana scowled and struggled against him as he put his lips to the small wound on her neck and licked the smudged blood from it.

Ana felt shivers crawl up her spine, and not in a god way. She gulped, felling suddenly frightened and defiantly exposed; she knew what was to come next. She was aware of the consequences that would take place if she lost and now she had to face them.

There was a threatening noise coming form deep within Sasuke's throat as the last hit was made and it was clear that Zabuza had won. "_She was so close…" _Sasuke hissed in his mind.

"Ana!" Both Serenity and Cassandra cried as they saw their sister lose. Sakura and Maria both grabbed them and held them back.

"It's over," Sakura replied.

"But that man is going to take her!" Cassandra yelled.

"It's ok, she'll be back," Maria assured the youngest sister sadly, "_Even though I doubt she'll be the same mentally after tonight."_

"Damn it! Why does that bastard always win!?" Naruto asked the heavens, outraged.

"What do we do now?" Sakura asked anyone who was listening.

Sasuke was the one to answer the pink haired girl. "Nothing," he replied, scornfully, still glaring at Zabuza and Ana on the ground, looking like he was about ready to kill the man on top of her.

"There's got to be _something_ we can do…" Maria tried.

Surprisingly, Gaara was the one to answer this time, "There is nothing," he replied flatly, "She will go with Zabuza tonight and fulfill her part of the debt, just like she agreed to do."

The _lanista_ stepped forward from his spot in the crowd, clapping: a happy, satisfied smile on his face. "Very good, very good," he repeated with a dry smirk.

Zabuza slowly got up form being on top of Ana, and then grabbed both of her wrists and pulled her up quickly.

"Zabuza, I think you should get that wound taking care of," the ?_lanista_ replied serious now, looking at the shoulder gash on Zabuza. But the gladiator shook his head stubbornly and gave Ana a yellow tooth grin, "I'll live, I have other things to take care of."

The _lanista _smiled in understanding, "Eager to claim your prize, huh?" he glanced at Ana, who was giving the ground the dirtiest stare possible, then back to Zabuza, "Have fun."

Zabuza nodded once and turned to put an arm around Ana's waist, "Oh I will," he replied softly staring at her now.

Ana growled, violently shrugging out of Zabuza's hold, who just chuckled and tightened his grip. Zabuza left with Ana then, walked toward the Coliseum and to his quarters under the stadium.

Ana turned her head back over her shoulder to give her friends, who were watching her leave, a pathetic stare. None of them knew what to say so they stayed quiet. Ana then turned her eyes toward her sisters, who were staring at her with scared, wide eyes; she gave them both apologetic looks. 'Behave' she mouthed to her younger sisters.

The last thing she before turning her head back was singled out Sasuke from the group and mouthed a 'sorry' to him. Sasuke gave her a hard but weak look; sympathy flashed in his eyes for her but then as soon as it was there, it was gone, and Ana missed it. She turned away and left with Zabuza.

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Zabuza smirked to himself the whole way down the dark stairs and into the long hall way, but Ana didn't start to get nervous until she was right in front of his door.

All the muscles in her body tensed up as she stood in front of the door that had a number 30 sloppily painted on it. Ana nervously bit her lower lip as dread churned uncomfortably in her stomach and her mind went blank of anything. She could feel herself starting to breathe heavier as it came out in short gasps now.

"_Oh god, breath…breathe," _she told herself to distract her thoughts that were suddenly running wild through her head.

Zabuza looked over at Ana and bent down to whisper huskily in her ear; "Here we are sweetheart." He slowly picked up a piece of her hair in his fingers and twirled it around, teasing her. Ana noticed that his smelly breathe was also starting to pick up, but she imagined that there was no way it was for the same reason as hers.

Zabuza reached over and opened the door. "Ladies first," he replied, an impish smirk plastered on his face.

Ana hesitantly took a step forward into her room, sealing her doom. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she passed. He just kept smiling excitedly at her.

All nervousness and dread seem to disappear as Ana turned her head to the room and her eyes took it all in. All the previous feelings were hidden behind awe and surprise. This room had to be 5 times bigger then the one she and the others stayed and a lot nicer too. It looked much the same, with the same lay out except for the nicer furniture and more room. There were even a couple small tapestries hanging on the walls. It was no were near as nice as the ? But it was a whole hell of a lot nicer then her room.

Ana wondered how long Zabuza and the rest of his group had been here to get all this stuff and how much ass kissing they had to do.

As Ana gawked at the room, Zabuza quietly shut the door behind them and walked up behind Ana. He gently put a hand to each of shoulders and slowly ran his hand down her body, his thumb brushing the edges of her breasts and over her pelvis. His eyes scanned every inch of her body, taking it all in.

Ana sharply sucked in a breath and held it as goose bumps appeared on her skin and all her fear and nervousness came back, making her insides shiver. She closed her eyes, feeling the man's cold fingers run over her skin.

Zabuza's fingers tingled with excitement now. Without warning, he tightly grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back, banging her roughly into the door they had just come in. Ana let out a terrified yelp as she was thrown back and Zabuza quickly welded his body into hers.

Ana squirmed in discomfort against him, as he body pressed down harder; it was déjà vu all over again.

Zabuza smashed his lips against hers, but as soon as he did, Ana moved her head to the side, so that his lips dragged over to her cheek.

Zabuza groaned impatiently but decided to over look that as he kissed down from her cheek, down her jaw and then to her collar bone, still letting his hands explore.

Ana was having trouble calming herself down, "_Just don't think about it…pretend it's someone else," _she told herself. That worked for a little while until Zabuza got tired of kissing her skin and unexpectedly crashed his lips into hers again, shoving his tongue into her tightly closed mouth.

Ana's mind suddenly sent out a spasm of disgust throughout her body, making her gag. The man in front/on her didn't seem to notice though and kept letting his tongue explore her mouth.

Ana didn't do anything though; she just sat there, letting him do what he wanted. "_He can do whatever the hell he wants but he better not expect me to return the gestures," _she thought stubbornly. All Ana planned on doing was to stand there like a limp noodle and do absolutely nothing; Zabuza wanted this and now he was getting it…he just better not expect any enthusiasm for her.

Zabuza caught on quickly though, and he soon got bored of kissing an unemotional wall that wouldn't send him any sort of pleasure back. He wasn't enjoying himself in the least.

Zabuza finally pulled away from Ana and sighed heavily. "Look, you can either pick it up and put some emotion into this, or I can just go back to your sisters…I'm sure I can coax some enthusiasm out of them…"

Ana stared at Zabuza in horror, "You wouldn't," she hissed bitterly, "We made a deal and I'm fulfilling my part."

"Yes, but I'm not feeling very satisfied with my end of the bargain…and I'm sure the _lanista_ would agree with me if I would want to change some things around…" Zabuza put an hand on Ana's hip pulling her closer again. And of course he was grinning and showing off those hideous yellow teeth of his again.

Ana just stared Zabuza down with all the hate that was burning inside her chest.

"Now if you still want to keep your sisters safe, I would suggest that you make this more enjoyable -"

Zabuza was cut off mid sentence but Ana's lips. She put her hand behind his head and pulled toward her, pressing their lips harder together. Ana shot her tongue into his mouth and arched her back into him and starting rocking her hips against his. She even faked a moan for extra show.

Zabuza was taken by surprise by her sudden actions but all too quickly was happy to oblige. He rested one hand on her butt and with the other one he pulled out her hair, that was still in a pony tail from training and battling, so that now her hair came all the way down. Zabuza grabbed a handful of it and yanked it toward him so that Ana had no choice but to push against his body even harder.

The man let out a low moan as they kissed and pressed their bodies together; a bulge formed in his pants, but Ana kept pushing forward and continued to kiss him intensely, to give him a reason not to throw her aside and go for her sisters.

The two finally had to break for air, both breathing hard. Zabuza gave Ana an excited, lustful look as he pressed their foreheads together and looked down into her eyes, "Now how come that didn't start earlier?" he panted. Ana ignored his question, looking down at the ground. She still did not wish to talk to him, afraid that she might say something to tick him off; she was already on thin ice.

Zabuza smirked. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her over to the pretty expensive couch, and threw her down . Ana gave a short yelp and scrambled to sit up, but Zabuza was already hovering over her, making her scoot back into the arm rest. He used his hands to pin her wrists down at her sides, and to press her back farther into the couch.

He kissed the bare cleavage that Ana's shirt was exposing, and started to bite her neck, leaving small red marks form his teeth. Her chest was heaving now as the girls lungs tried to bring in more air for her poor body that was being crushed by Zabuza's sudden weight. Inside Ana's determined spirit was starting to crack, but she wasn't going to show it on the outside to Zabuza or at least not yet. He would not know how much he was really breaking her apart, she wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

Zabuza moved back to her mouth, hoping for the same enthusiasm he got earlier. When it didn't come, and she continued to tightly and stubbornly close her mouth to him, he groaned loudly, annoyed. "Ana…" he groaned, irritated.

Ana bit her lower lip and pressed her lips to his again, only gentler this time; she was getting tired of this. Ana loathed the guy she was kissing with all her being. She let Zabuza explore her mouth as she coaxed his with her own tongue.

Zabuza's hands started south. He moved them down form her chest, where they were planted, then declined over her stomach and hips. One hand stayed where it was on her hip while the other continued to travel down her thigh. Once at mid thigh, his fingers started to crawl back up on the inside. Ana shuddered against him which caused Zabuza's body to react and he moved a little faster.

His fingers continued. He pushed back the gladiator skirt that she was still wearing from training, and went farther upwards until his fingers brushed against the edge of the thin cloth she was wearing under the skirt. Ana's breath come out in anxious gasps as she pulled away form his lips, turned her head and closed her eyes.

Zabuza smirked at her reaction as he hastily pushed back the cloth to brush passed her bare skin. Ana bit her lip hard, her body contracting to his touch without her say so.

Zabuza roughly pushed two fingers in at once. Ana's breath caught in her throat and her body arched off the cushions, she suppressed a moan. Why was her body reacting this way? She hated Zabuza but her body was betraying her. Her chest was heaving now, she was trying to push away the excitement and pleasure her body was sending to her brain in large waves. A part of her was actually enjoying this? She couldn't believe it. The other half of her was disgusted and disappointed by the other half.

"Common, Ana…," Zabuza whispered in her ear, "You know you want to…give me something to work with."

Ana, more determined then ever now, pressed her lips tightly and bit down harder on them to keep any sounds from escaping her mouth.

Zabuza's eyes turned hard; he was annoyed at how much resistance she was giving him, "My patience for you his running low, Anabella…" he growled. He pulled his fingers out of her, he was done teasing. He forcefully pushed his fingers back in and shoved them deep inside her.

A sharp pain radiated through her body from his forcefulness and she let out a small, quiet squeal from the stinging pain. Only a little pleasure from before still remained.

Zabuza lightly smirked in triumph, "I guess that'll do."

And now he was done taking it slow, he was anxious to take her now, his body was tingling from excitement and thinking about what was to come. He ripped the rest of the clothes form her body, only taking a moment to let his eyes wander and take her body in. Them, hastily, Zabuza slipped out of his own clothes and positioned his body over her smaller frame where he thrust roughly into her.

Whatever little pleasure still remained, it was gone from her body now, washed away, and a new feeling pulsed: pain, and a lot of it. Her defensive walls broke down and there was a sharp pain that started at her core and pulsed through every muscle in her body. Her insides felt like they were being ripped apart and she opened her mouth to let out a silent, painful scream.

Zabuza continued to pump mercilessly, in and out.

Every part of Ana tensed up, and her body contorted from pain. Her head and heart felt like it was going to explode from all the emotions running through them: pain, helplessness, physical and mental exhaustion, shame, weakness…but the biggest one was guilt, how could her body have betrayed her like that?

But not once did she shed a tear, not wanting to let Zabuza win again.

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Zabuza collapsed next to her, breathing heavily, sweat glistening on his broad chest. And somehow he still managed to have a satisfied smile on his face. Dirty bastard. Sick son of a bitch.

Ana lay still for a minute, trying to let her panicked breathing slow and trying to ease her aching body. No use though. Her breathing did slow but the ached didn't subside. Ana lay there for a couple more minutes in silence, wallowing in self pity and pain. Her mind was blank, too tired to think.

After a couple more minutes, Ana realized she didn't want to lay next to _him _any longer, no less be in the same room. She slowly picked her exhausted body up and slipped her clothes back on as quickly as she could.

Zabuza looked over at her, as she crawled off the couch, fully clothes now; the only signs of what happened being her tangled hair and the small trickle of smeared blood on her inner thighs.

She dragged herself up and off the couch, wobbling unsteadily as her feet made contact with the floor.

Zabuza reached out from the couch and grabbed her wrist, pulling her forcefully down toward his level. Ana had not choice but to be pulled back and let her head fall inches from his.

"Where do you think your doing?" he asked, starting straight at her, inches away.

"I fulfilled by part of the deal and now I'm going back," Ana answered. She was surprised at how strong her voice still sounded, even though she felt the complete opposite.

Zabuza seemed surprised at first too, but that quickly passed, "Tell me you love me first," he demanded.

Ana let her lips set into a unemotional frown, and hardened her eyes. She hesitated before answered him. "I love you." It was dull and void of any emotion what so ever.

Zabuza seemed satisfied thought and let go of the hard grip around her wrist. He watched her turn and leave with a heavy smirk.

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Ana carried her body back to her and her friend's room, exhaustion threatening to cause her body to collapse at any moment.

She finally made it to the door though, and with whatever strength her body still possessed, threw it open.

Maria, Sakura, Gaara, Sasuke, and Naruto were all sitting in the main room in silence, waiting, when the door swung open revealing a very messy and tired looking Ana. It took everyone a minute before the information registered and then all hell broke loose.

"Ana!"

"Oh my gosh, look at you!"

"Are you alright!?"

Sakura and Maria kept asking her question as the jumped up instantly and went to her, even Naruto got up; Sasuke and Gaara stayed where they were, watching with careful eyes. The two girls and Naruto stopped a couple feet from her, wanting to give her room; their faced showed nothing but pity and worry for their friend.

Ana moved her eyes around the room, not really hearing them but looking for two younger faces among the group.

"Ana?" Sakura asked, slowly reaching a hand out and putting it to the white haired girl's shoulder when she didn't answer.

Ana snapped her eyes up to look at Sakura, they were apologetic, "Yeah I'm fine," she answered softly, "Where are Serenity and Cassandra?"

"They're sleeping in Sasuke's room," Naruto answered, "he said it was ok if they stayed in there, since the girls are technically his now."

Ana nodded, looking over to Sasuke who was sitting over at the table next to Gaara. Sasuke's eyes were no longer careful but hard; he was glaring at something and it was on her. Ana followed his gaze to her legs and on the inside of her right thigh where the smudged blood was. Her eyes widened and her face heated up as she self-consciously tugged on her skirt to try and cover it. The skirt was too short though, so instead Ana shifted her thigh behind the other one so that it wasn't in Sasuke's line of vision anymore.

Sasuke was the only one who seemed to notice the red color on her inner thigh, probably because he was looking at her at a distance. Ana also saw that Gaara seemed to notice it too, only he wasn't glaring at her like Sasuke was. Instead Gaara had one eyebrow raised.

When Ana had shifted her leg, Sasuke moved his eyes up to meet hers so that he was staring at her now like everyone else.

Ana cleared her throat, "What time is it?" she asked anyone who would answer, hoping to distract Sasuke's gaze. She didn't like the fact that he was looking at her so hard now, it made her uncomfortable.

"It's late Ana," Sakura answered gently, "You've been gone for at least 3 hour...maybe more."

Ana sighed. "Do you need anything, babe?" Maria asked softly, worry playing in her eyes, "Are you hungry? We saved some food or you…"

Ana shook her head as her friend suggested this, "Thanks Maria, but I'm not hungry…Naruto you can have it…" she answered.

Naruto wasn't the least bit hungry right now, he looked like he had lost his appetite as soon as Ana appeared at the door. He opened his mouth the object but Ana beat him too it.

"…I just really need a bath and I want some sleep." She started walking away from her friend's then toward the bathroom.

Right before she went in, Ana stole a look at Sasuke who's eyes were following her, "Thanks for letting my sisters sleep in your room," she whispered to him, so that no one else heard.

Sasuke couldn't help but let his eyes lose their hard edge and soften up at her low voice. He sighed as he watched the door close behind her.

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While Ana was in the bath, the rest of the group went to bed. They were exhausted, even though they'd never let Ana know, from staying up and waiting for her after a long day.

Sakura ended up sleeping in Naruto's room on his bed while he slept on the floor and Sasuke slept on the couch in the main room. Maria went in to Gaara's room to sleep but was shunned, of course, to the floor of the room. Gaara grumbled in complaint when she had come into his room and he realized he had to share his space, but he secretly didn't mind all that much. He would never admit it, but Gaara slept better then he had in a long time from falling asleep to the sound of Maria's steady pattern of breaths.

Ana was still curled up in the bath while the others slept. No matter how many times she scrubbed herself, she couldn't seem to get the feeling of Zabuza off her skin, the feeling of dirtiness. He seemed to have seeped into every pore in her skin, making her shiver despite the hot water she was sitting in.

The feeling of his fingers inside her. The feeling of his…

Ana shivered involuntarily. She stopped scrubbing for a minute to lean back, letting her sore muscles relax and her aching hips to rest. The thing that hurt the most was her heart; Ana felt like she had sinned and stained her own heart. It would have been another story if she had been raped but technically she wasn't, she had been given a choice…and part of her even enjoyed it. Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

She felt like she had betrayed Sasuke in a way by losing the fight she was so close to winning and then going off and sleeping with Zabuza. She belonged to Sasuke not Zabuza. And the way he was looking at her when she came in scared her; he looked like he was furious with her. Did he know that she was given a choice and that she had picked Zabuza? Did Sasuke want her to go with the other choice? No, that would have been selfish, Ana wouldn't have let her sisters suffer anyway. Maybe he was mad at her for not winning the fight and avoiding every thing that happened next.

Ana sighed going deeper into the water so that it covered her mouth and came up to her nose; her hair fanning out around her, floating on top of the water.

Why did she even care if Sasuke was mad at her or not? There really was no way of avoiding any of this, she had to protect the only blood family she had left. Ana hated Sasuke, so why did she care if she betrayed him? She hated his smirks, his smart ass comments, his coldness, and especially his attitude. But there was something else. Under all cons there was a least one pro: she loved his touch, it was oddly comforting and gentle for someone like him. It showed Ana that, after all he'd been through as a kid, he still had some good in him. Under his tough guy act, she knew he cared, and it showed in the little things that he did. There was probably no one else that thought the same thing she did, but then again Ana was the only one who really paid attention to Sasuke.

Even though Ana was here in this rough, sexist, school…she was still happier then she'd been in a while. If you over looked the work, the beatings, and the fights, it really wasn't that bad. She had made friends that she was positive would always have her back, and even a guy she involuntary found herself falling for. When she was around Sasuke she felt whole, somehow…and deep in her stomach, when he tried to hide his concern, she felt it do nervous, happy flips.

But you don't care for me the way I care for you.

I know you don't.

Ana's hands balled into fists under the water and she squeezed.

And now he was mad at her.

Nice going Ana.

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Sasuke was sleeping restlessly on the couch when the sound of the bathroom door opening, awoke him. HE knew immediately it was Ana and kept his eyes shut, not really wanting to talk to her at the moment; he was still kind of mad about what happened even though it wasn't really her fault; it was the bastard Zabuza…that dirty son of a bitch. _Ugh. _Just thinking about it made his head hurt.

Sasuke felt Ana's presence linger over his still form; he could feel her eyes looking down at him. "_And why would she be staring at me?" _he wondered. She left though, only a few seconds later. Sasuke listened to her bare feet pad across the ground and over to his bedroom door. Sasuke opened his eyes in time to see her body disappear in the room.

He got up quietly and headed over to the door that was cracked open just a bit, and he looked inside.

Ana was quietly making her way over to her two younger sisters who were sleeping soundly in Sasuke's bed. She didn't seem to notice that he was watching her.

Ana gently placed her self near her sister's heads. The bed creaked a little and moved under her weight which caused the youngest, Cassandra, to stir awake.

"Ana?" Cassandra whispered, trying to focus her sleepy eyes on the visitor. Ana smiled, "Yeah I'm here Cassie."

Cassandra's eyes widened and she through her tiny arms around Ana's middle, burying her head into her older sisters stomach.

Ana laughed putting her arms around the little girl and pulling her closer and into her lap.

Serenity started to shift and her eyes fluttered open from all the noise and movement. When she also saw that Ana was there she latched herself to her older sister as well.

"Did you guys behave?" Ana asked her sisters smiling.

Cassandra nodded, "Yeah, and I really like your friends!"

"I liked then too," Serenity added, "They were really nice."

Ana's smiled widened, "Good."

"So were did you go with that man, sissy?" Cassandra wanted to know.

Ana shrugged, "He just wanted to hang out with me," she answered softy.

Cassandra bit her lip, trying to make sense out of that and why Ana had been gone so long, "You mean like a date?" she asked innocently.

"Yeah, something like that," Ana grinned.

From where Sasuke was watching, he scowled. "_If only," _he thought bitterly.

Ana sighed, suddenly, "Common girls, let's get you back to sleep," she said letting go if them and rearranging the blankets and herself so that her sisters and her were under the covers. Ana put her arm around them and laid her tired, throbbing head down.

"Will you stay here with us?" Cassie asked, snuggling closer to Ana's body. She smiled, "Of course I will," she whispered.

The three sisters lay still for a while, holding each other close. The ends of Sasuke's mouth twitched upward into a small smile. Even after everything that happened including her mother dying, Ana still was doing a great job at being strong her sisters. Sasuke could relate to the lose she might be feeling now, but he didn't remember being this string about it. "_Because I had no one to be strong for," _he told himself. He had no one, at least Ana still had her sisters; he envied her of having family still.

There was sudden movement, and Sasuke fixed his eyes back to the girls. Cassandra was reaching for something that was around Ana's neck; she wrapped her small fingers around it. It was the same necklace Ana always wore; it was in the shape of a tear drop and it was light blue, matching her and Serenity's eyes.

"You still have it?" Serenity whispered.

Ana smiled, "Still haven't taken it off."

"I miss daddy…" Cassandra suddenly whispered, sniffling, "…and momma." A tear made it's was down her cheek.

"Me too," Ana replied sadly, wiping Cassie's tear away with her thumb. "She's happier now, her pain is gone, and I'm sure she watching you right now Cassandra."

"You think so?" Cassie sniffed.

"All three of us, babe," Ana answered.

The girls went silent. They knew there was nothing to say, that no words should be shared in memory of their mother. They fell asleep like that, each one reliving happy memories, and Cassandra's hand tightly wrapped around Ana's necklace.

Sasuke quietly shut the door the rest of the way and went back over to the couch, feeling like he was intruding.

Ana opened her eyes to the sound of the door closing and gave a small smile. She knew Sasuke had been there. Another example of the proof that there had to be some good under his skin.

Ana closed her eyes to the sleepiness, letting her body give in to the exhaustion and she was engulfed by darkness.

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Ok. That sad attempt was my first excuse of a slight lemon…hoped it was ok…I really didn't think it was that gross…my 12 year old brother probably could have read that without getting into trouble lol. Now I got to go update 'Just Wanna Be Me," …after I study. Oh, did I tell you guys I'm still in school?! Wow. Isn't it great. BLAH! Only got one full day left and three days if finals…woopee.

LaTeR!

---rayluva4


	10. Seeing Green

Hey all! Here's the next chapter! Disclaimer. Don't own the song at the end of the chapter either. It's called 'Everything About You' and it's by Three Days Grace

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix** - LOL yes he should have the worst and slowest death possible! Mahahaha! Sasuke is very mad and you'll find out just how much this chapter. And I'm currently working on a plot with more Kiba and Shikamaru in it, but for right now hope you enjoy! Thanks for the always great reviews!

**Chapter 10: Seeing Green**

Ana woke up the next morning in a very pissy mood. The mood she was in did have a lot to do with the fact the every muscle and bone in her body was aching and throbbing, but it also had to do with the fact that she remembered every single thing that had happened last night, every detail. It was just one of those things you hoped you would forget if you went to sleep, but ended up being the first thing you remembered when you work up.

And that's exactly what happened to Ana this morning, even before she opened her eyes. She seemed to remember everything that she had wanted to forget; the emotions, the pains, and even Sasuke's furious face. That alone made a new wave a pain go through her, not physical but mental. She would have to face him sooner or later. Ana didn't think he was as mad as he started out to be since he had come to spy on her and her sisters last night, but she could be wrong. Either way, if he was angry or not, she would still feel the aching guilt pulling at her heart when she eventually did face him.

A loud growling sound pulled Ana from her thoughts. She sighed, rolling her eyes; it was her stomach. When was the last time she ate?

Ana opened her eyes only to see the dirt ceiling above and felt a gentle weight on her chest. She looked down to see Cassandra, her youngest sister, her head lying on her chest and her small hand still clasped around Ana's necklace. Ana looked over to her other side to see Serenity snuggled tightly up next to her, sleeping soundly.

Ana smiled as she looked at her two sister's sleeping faces, both of which looked peaceful and not like they had just lost their mother. All the pervious guilt and pain seemed to be numbed by something more powerful. Seeing her sisters alive and innocent sleeping next to her was enough for Ana to know that it was all worth it.

Her stomach growled again loudly, begging for some kind of food. Ana gave a heavy sigh, gently pried Cassandra's tiny fingers from her necklace, and quietly climbed over and out of bed, despite the throbbing that was radiating through her body. Once out of the bed she looked to her sisters to make sure she hadn't awoke them; they didn't even stir. As she turned to the bedroom door to leave, Ana faintly wondered how all three of them had managed to fit in that bed.

Sasuke, Gaara, and Naruto were all in the small living room, sorting through their weapons and getting ready for their training this morning. Maria and Sakura were no were in sight.

As soon as Naruto noticed Ana in the door way with a confused look across her face, he immediately stopped what he was doing to look at her. "Hey Ana," he greeted shyly, which was uncommon for the loudmouth, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine," she lied through her teeth, dismissing his question, "Where are Sakura and Maria?"

"Getting breakfast," Sasuke replied smoothly as he finished tying the ends of his large bag that held his weapons. Ana stole a glance at him; he didn't seem mad anymore…

"But don't worry, they said they would try to get some extra for you and your sisters," Naruto added quickly.

Ana opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a gently tug on her clothes. She turned around to see Cassandra rubbing sleep from one eye and her free hand still held tight to Ana's clothes.

"Hey babe," Ana greeted sweetly bending down to kiss her on the cheek, "Did you sleep well?"

Cassandra shrugged, "Yeah, but the bed was really small."

Ana gave a slight smile at her answer, "Are you hungry, Cassie?"

The younger sister nodded.

"Go get Serenity up then and we'll head up."

Cassandra nodded and turned back into the bedroom.

"Ana…" Naruto started, "There's no need for you to go up there…Sakura and Maria said they'd bring something--"

"Do you really think the guards will let them have enough extras to feed three people?" Ana snapped, cutting him off.

Naruto stared at her indifferently, "Then you can have some of ours."

Ana sighed putting her fingers to her temples and pressing down, Naruto was already starting to give her a headache. "I appreciate it, Naruto," she said as gently as she could, trying to control her anger, "but I can't ask you to do that."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something.

"And please don't argue with me, I'm not in the mood."

He shut his mouth.

Just then, Cassandra repapered in the door way behind Ana with Serenity beside her.

"Alright girls," Ana said as she walked over to the wooden eating table where now it was being used as a table to sort weapons on. She took the nearest dagger and holder she could find, not knowing who's it was nor caring, and strapped it to her thigh. "Stay close to me and if anybody touches you, you'll tell me, alright?"

Cassandra and Serenity both nodded. "But what's the knife for?" Cassie wanted to know.

"For anyone you does touch you."

With that said, Ana instructed Cassandra to jump onto her back. But once the girl did, Ana instantly regretted it. A sharp, searing pain ran through her legs and core as the new weight was added. Ana bit her lip, trying to hide her discomfort.

"Ana…?" Naruto asked anxiously, not missing the look on her face.

Ana ignored Naruto and took Serenity's hand in hers and headed for the door but not first without almost buckling under Cassandra's weight. She caught herself right at the door.

The next thing Ana knew, Sasuke was by he side, "Let me help you," he mumbled taking Cassandra off Ana's back and setting her on the ground.

"I'm perfectly capable to look after these too," Ana responded coldly, trying her best to mask the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"Just let me help you carry them upstairs and to the kitchen," he answered, a little annoyed by her resistance, "your body's weak right now and your going to kill yourself."

Ana turned her head away, speechless, and also to try and hide the faint blush that was creeping up her cheeks. She was embarrassed by what Sasuke meant about her body being weak and what he was referring to since she had no desire to speak of it, and that fact that he was concerned about her.

"Um…alright, I guess," Ana answered after a moment and turned to Serenity, "I've got Cassie so I want you to go to Sasuke…don't be scared though, he won't hurt you."

"Ok," Serenity muttered as she looked up at Sasuke adoringly. He turned around and let Serenity jump onto his back and shift around a little until she was comfortable. Serenity gave a small smile, clamped her arms and legs tightly around his strong frame, and snuggled in closer, a little bit of pink forming on her cheeks.

Ana struggled not to laugh. Even her 11 year old sister, usually very mature, was melting at the feeling of touching Sasuke. She rolled her eyes at Serenity's 'little crush' as he turned around and gave Ana a smug smirk, almost as if he knew exactly what she was thinking and he was highly amused.

Ana couldn't help but smile at their behavior as she took Cassandra's hand and led them up stairs. She realized then that all females seemed to be susceptible to his looks and 'charms', regardless of age. Looks like both the sisters had a bit of a crush on the Uchiha. She wondered now, if Cassandra did too.

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Ana and Sasuke got to the kitchen with the girls without too much trouble, just the occasional glare from Sasuke to some 'innocent' male onlooker. When they got into the kitchen Sasuke let Serenity down while Ana put Cassandra on top of the table she was going to work on.

"Thanks Sasuke," Ana replied sincerely, but not meeting his eyes when he turned to look at her.

"Hn. Just watch it," Sasuke told her, "there are some perverted guys around here. I gotta go." And with that said he left.

Ana watched him leave before picking up Serenity with a little trouble, and setting her down next to  
Cassandra on the table. "Alright you two, don't move, ok?"

The sisters nodded as Ana set to work on breakfast next to the girls, often looking up to see if she could see Sakura or Maria when she would give Cassie and Serenity some scraps to nibble on.

A couple minutes later, Ana heard someone's voice form behind her. "So these are the sisters, huh?"

Ana's hand flew to the knife on her thigh, ready to attack whoever said that. But it was only Kiba and Shikamaru, both smirking at her.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru smiled at her.

"Maybe, Shika, but they do look just like Ana, like everyone was saying," Kiba replied.

Ana rolled her eyes, "Hey guys." She stared at them for a minute noticing someone was missing. "Where's Neji?"

"Women problems," Shikamaru stated simply.

"Him and Mira in another fight?" Ana asked knowingly.

Kiba nodded, "over something stupid once again….when will they ever learn to get over themselves and just confess to how much they like each other?"

Ana smirked at Kiba's choice of words, "Indeed."

"So you gonna introduce us?" Kiba asked motioning over to the two small girls on the table.

Ana took a deep breath and turned to her sisters who both had a confused and fearful look on their faces.

"Girls, this is Shikamaru and Kiba," Ana explained giving a heavy sigh, "They're cool, there's no need to be scared. And guys these are my sisters Serenity and Cassandra."

Serenity relaxed a little. But Cassandra stayed a little rigid. This did not go unnoticed by Kiba; he smiled down at her. "Can I show you something, Cassandra, is it?"

Cassandra looked shyly down at the floor and shrugged.

Kiba put two fingers inside his mouth and whistled. A second later a little brown and white dog appeared racing through people on his way to his master. Once at Kiba's feet, the dog jumped into his arms.

"This is Akamaru," Kiba explained, petting the dog whose tail was wagging wildly, "You can play with him if you'd like."

Cassandra's dark blue eyes widened, "Really?" she asked.

Kiba nodded, and the dog jumped into Cassandra's lap. Cassandra giggled and pet it, as did Serenity.

Suddenly, Akamaru jumped form her lap and took off running. Cassandra immediately jumped down from the table to chase the hyper dog.

"Cassie wait for me!" Serenity called also jumping down and following. Ana groaned, "

"Your sisters are very pretty," Kiba smiled warmly once the girls disappeared behind an old crate.

"Yeah, and I'm constantly watching their backs for them so some whacked -up guy doesn't come and take them away." Ana scowled in reply, "I have no idea what I'm going to do with them."

"Troublesome, like I said," Shikamaru pointed out, "But I'm sure you'll come up with something."

"Hopefully." Ana mused for a minute. She could still hear her sisters laughing and the dog's barking; they were still ok.

A silence stretched through the teens as Ana resumed making breakfast while Kiba stared at Ana . "What?" she asked feeling his eyes upon her as she looked up at him. His eyes had softened greatly as he looked at her; she knew exactly what was going to come out of his mouth next.

"How are you feeling?" Yep, she was right.

Ana became instantly irritated. She turned back to the fruit she had been working on and a little too aggressively went back to cutting it. "Fine. How did you find out about that?"

"Well, it's not exactly a secret," Shikamaru answered, "Zabuza didn't waste a minute before telling the whole world about it. He seemed actually quite happy with himself."

Ana's eyes immediately darkened threateningly, as her anger flared inside her and she clenched the chopping knife she was holding tighter. "I bet he didn't."

"Yeah, what he did was pretty low, even for him," Kiba replied.

"Oh, I doubt that," Ana bitterly laughed, "I'm sure he's been lower…that asshole."

Shikamaru shrugged then nodded in agreement, "Yeah, your probably right on that one."

"You almost had him though, Ana," Kiba added, putting a comforting hand to her shoulder, which calmed her down a bit. "That was fantastic for your first real fight."

Ana thought for a minute then shrugged, "It was because my sisters where here…I had to protect them."

"And you did," Kiba told her firmly, "So don't feel so bad."

"Yeah, you look worse then Ino when she's throwing a fit over a bad hair day," Shikamaru added.

Ana gave a slight smile, "Yeah your right…I just can't stop feeling a little guilty though…"

Both Kiba and Shikamaru gave her confused looks. Ana inhaled. "I feel like I betrayed Sasuke in a way, by giving into Zabuza…but he was going to take Serenity and Cassie…I just can't balance out how I'm feeling, or why I even care what the arrogant prick thinks anyway…"

"You did what you had to do to protect your family," Kiba said giving Ana a knowingly look. "And Sasuke, if anyone, understands that….he just being, well, a stubborn Uchiha."

"And I think you know why you care what he thinks," Shikamaru replied, giving her a lazy look.

Yeah because I care about him…no matter how frustrating he is sometimes…we're a lot a like. And I think he understands me. Like I understand him. Maybe not in an obvious way we understand each other, but in a deeper way; like in the way it feels to lose your family right out from under you, to feel it slipping away and breaking apart, like if only you had been stronger and smarter you could have saved it. He knows exactly what it feels like.

An awkward silence loomed over the small group. Shikamaru cleared his throat, "The good news is that at least we know you can hold your own, and all that training wasn't for nothing."

Ana actually smiled to that, feeling a little better. "Gee, thanks, Shika."

Suddenly there was a high-pitched, terrified scream. Ana recognized it immediately. "Shit!" she cursed loudly taking off after the sound…but where did it come from? She looked around but didn't see anything. Shikamaru and Kiba were right behind her, looking just as alarmed. She turned to them, "Help me look for them!" she ordered frantically.

Shikamaru and Kiba both obeyed and the three teens shot off in different directions looking for two little girls and a dog.

Ana sped around a corner and out of the kitchen. Just right outside the door, a little ways form the washing building, there was a large group of men gathered around something; they were shouting and laughing at it. Ana's heart pounded in her chest; she knew her sisters were in there.

She violently pushed her way through the thick crowd being elbowed, shoved and shouted at several times, but finally broke free to the center of the noisy crowd to find a terrified Cassandra, a glowering Serenity, and angry Akamaru. Serenity was in front of Cassandra, shielding her, while the dog was barking threateningly at the jeering men in front of them.

"Get the fuck away from them!" Ana hissed loudly as she ran to her sisters, pulling out her knife from her thigh, and standing protectively in front of them.

"Can you believe our luck, guys?" one of the men in the front row of the crowd laughed now. He had a very short buzz cut on top of his head, and a gruesome looking scar going across his face. "Looks like we hit the jackpot…3 bitches!"

There came a low chuckle from most of the men surrounding the girls. Akamaru growled fiercely, but the men seemed unconcerned.

"The third one's quite the looker too!" another man whooped; this one was shorter then the other guy, and a little less muscled too. "And look! She thinks she can stand up against us with just a puny little knife."

Ana narrowed her eyes at the men, stepping closer to Cassandra and Serenity, determined to do what ever it took to get them out of there.

"What do you think you're going to do with that, babe?" The one with the scar mocked Ana. "Think that will protect you?" He stepped closer.

Ana extended the arm with the knife in it farther out and took another step back; she kept her eyes hard. "I _think_ I'm going to run you through with it…" she hissed, "…If you touch them or me."

Scar-face laughed, "Well _I_ think your wrong on both accounts. Here, you see, nobody cares about you, what happens to you, or what you think, princess."

"We do," said a different, very angry sounding voice. Suddenly Kiba and Shikamaru appeared from the crowd and calmly walked up in front of Ana to face scar-face and everyone else, their swords from their waists unsheathed and out, ready to cut someone through at a moments notices. Ana gave a soft sigh of relief and relaxed from her offensive stance she was previously in. Cassandra and Serenity came from behind Ana to cling on to her from her sides while Akamaru jumped up into his masters right shoulder, still looking stiff and growling quietly.

The scared man went from mocking to angry in a second flat. He glared at Kiba and Shikamaru, "And who do you think you are!" he hissed, "You can't just come up here and take what we found first."

"They belong to us, idiot," Kiba snapped.

"I don't believe you!"

"Do you think we would actually waste our energy to fight for a couple of troublesome wenches that weren't ours?" Shikamaru countered in a bored tone as he crossed his arms lazily over his chest.

The scar faced man growled, but other wise was speechless. He turned away and trudged into the kitchen with a sour look about his ugly face. The crowd had disappointed looks across their faces as they also turned away and went in separate directions.

Ana sighed heavily while putting the knife back. "Thanks guys."

Kiba turned to Ana, all previous traces of threat in is face gone, and smiled warmly, "Don't mention it."

"Sasuke would have killed us if he knew we let something like that take place right under our noses anyway," Shikamaru explained with a shrug.

Ana smiled in thanks again then turned toward her sisters with a hard, firm look in her eyes. "I know I shouldn't have let you run off like that but please, help me out and never do anything like that again." Ana let her eyes soften a bit, "People here are crazy, and they don't care about hurting you. You have to stay close to me, understood."

Cassandra and Serenity nodded apologetically, "We're sorry," Serenity replied quietly with her head down.

Ana gave a short nod and a kiss to each of their foreheads in acknowledgment. "I just don't want anything to happen to either of you." She sighed, "I have to find a way to get you out of here, and I just need some cooperation while I'm working on something."

Kiba and Shikamaru glanced at each other for a second. "Ana, we're going to be late for morning training, can you take it from here?" Kiba asked anxiously.

Ana nodded, "Of course. Thanks again."

The boys nodded and then waved while heading off.

Ana led her sisters back into the kitchen to continue making breakfast. She set them back down on the table and continued while she mentally scolded herself.

"Sissy…!" Cassandra's voice was urgent as she leaned over to her older sister and whispered in her ear, bringing Ana out of her thoughts.

Ana turned toward her sister whose eye were wide and fearful. She was looking at something that was behind Ana. "What is it, Cassie?" Ana turned around to come face to face with a familiar wide, strong chest.

"Hey sweetheart, what's up?" the chest rumbled mockingly.

Reflexively, Ana reached to her knife and brought it out of it's sheath. Zabuza was faster though and knew what she was going to do. He grabbed her wrist that had the knife in it before she could cut him with it, and bent her wrist back, causing her to whimper in pain and drop the weapon.

"I don't think so," Zabuza laughed and let go of her wrist.

Ana retracted her hand and glared up him. "Get away from me," she hissed.

"That's really no way to speak to me, Anabella," Zabuza smirked, stepping a little closer.

Ana reacted by stepping backwards until her behind was pressed up to the table. "I don't wish to talk to you, or even see you again you disguising bastard," Ana spat.

Zabuza just laughed, "I really don't think you have a choice in the matter." He reached out with his hand to touch Ana's cheek, when someone stopped him. Ana turned her head to look at the intruder and her stomach did a happy back flip; it was Sasuke and he was holding on to Zabuza's arm tightly, preventing him from touching Ana. He looked like he was about ready to kill Zabuza; his eyes were darker then usual and he was scowling like Ana had ever seen before.

"Don't touch her again," Sasuke growled menacingly, tightening his hold on Zabuza's arm.

Zabuza pretended not to notice. "Oh look, Uchiha comes to your rescue," he laughed bitterly at Ana.

Sasuke continued to glare hard at Zabuza. "Ana, take your sisters and go back to the room," Sasuke ordered her without turning his head.

Ana didn't need to be told twice; she had no desire what so ever to be near the creep with the ugly yellow teeth. She quickly helped Cassandra and Serenity down form the table, took a couple bowls of fruit and oatmeal she had made, and then hurriedly led her sisters away.

Once Ana had disappeared, Sasuke let go of Zabuza.

"Leave her alone," Sasuke warned, "You got what you wanted."

Zabuza just smirked at Sasuke's warning. "You Can't handle competition, can you Uchiha," he laughed, "Your jealous."

"What's that suppose to mean."

"Your jealous that I laid your property down before you could," Zabuza answered.

Sasuke straightened up. "Hn. Whatever."

Zabuza smiled, "A little piece of advice? Take what's your's before somebody else claims it. Stop with the 'No body's good enough for me' shit and take it."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "_You're_ giving _me_ advice?" he snorted.

"It's normal to feel this way, Uchiha…I just fucked your girl and you missed out," Zabuza laughed, mockingly. "I know how possessive you can be…"

Sasuke's eyes flashed. By now the two arguing men had attracted quite an audience.

"And just to let you know I didn't rape her…she did it willingly… and she was perfect… _every_ _bit_ of her."

The young Uchiha clenched his fists and tried to control the sudden anger that was bubbling up inside of him.

"It's so much better when their willing," Zabuza continued, his mind replaying past events, "And when Ana's willing, she can be quite the seductive, feisty little wench."

Sasuke tried concentrating on his breathing, trying to even it out and to slow his angry, racing heartbeat down. "_He's just trying to get under your skin. He wants you to punch him. Don't give in to the bastard," _he told himself firmly.

"How does it feel, Sasuke…" Zabuza shouted loudly now and smirked, using Sasuke's first name for once, "…to know that not only did I tap what was your property but she did it on her own accord. Your _bitch_ betrayed you after how 'gracious' and 'open' you've been with her!"

Sasuke snapped. He let his anger take control of him and ran at Zabuza throwing a punch. Zabuza blocked it and threw him back. "Feels shitty, doesn't it…" Zabuza replied, "…and familiar…"

A sudden image of Sasuke's brother, eldest of the Uchiha sons, appeared in Sasuke's head, standing over his parent's bloodied and very dead bodies. Someone he thought he could trust…someone he thought he loved…betrayed him that night…

"_Itachi…" _Sasuke growled, his eyes flashing a murderous red color as he went straight for Zabuza again and this time hitting him square in the face with a hard punch.

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Ana pushed her sisters into the room and shut the door.

"Hey Ana, feeling better?" Sakura asked as Ana came in. Her and Maria were sweeping the floor when the white haired girl had barged in.

"We would have waited for you to go up but we didn't know if you were feeling -- whoa…Ana, you look like you've just seen a ghost," Maria replied coming up to her with worried eyes.

Ana nodded, he mouth dry, "I'm fine," she chocked, trying to gain back her posture. She steered Cassandra and Serenity over to the wooden table and set the bowls down in front of them. "Here. Eat, ok?"

"What about you?" Serenity asked. "Aren't you hungry?"

Ana shook her head, "I think I lost my appetite," she confessed.

The sister dig into there food while Maria and Sakura looked at Ana through narrowed eyes. "What happened?" Maria asked.

"Nothing."

"Something defiantly happened."

Ana sighed, "Alright fine." Next, she told them everything that had happened upstairs including Kiba and Shikamaru and that Sasuke was still up there.

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A little while later when Cassandra and Serenity were finished eating, Ana sent them off for a nap, even though they had just got up a couple hours ago, and went to helping Maria and Sakura clean, worrying every second about what was going on upstairs.

Suddenly, Sasuke barged through the door, making all three girls jump at once. He had an angry scowl on his face, no shirt anymore, his chest shining with sweat, dirt coved his pants, and a bloodied, swollen lip. The girls stared at him as he made his way for the bathroom, without saying a word to them.

"Sasuke…?" Ana asked timidly.

Sasuke didn't answer. Instead he went straight into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him, but not before the girls got a glimpse of his back, which was covered in blood, skin, and deep red scratches.

"What the hell…?" Maria trailed off.

"What do you think happened," Sakura asked, "I mean, I really don't think Sasuke would allow Zabuza to beat him up that bad."

Ana stared hard at the closed bathroom door, her anger rising. "I think I know what happened," she muttered, going to the door and opening it.

"Uh, Ana?" Sakura asked worriedly, "Do you really think it would be such a great idea to go in there right now?"

Ana ignored Sakura's warning and closed the door behind her.

As if right on cue, Gaara and Naruto came through the main door. They looked around and saw the closed bathroom door, both boys had knowing looks in their eyes.

"So if Sasuke's in there…then where's Ana?" Naruto asked quickly, afraid that she may still be upstairs by herself.

"She's in there too," Maria answered.

"Good," replied Gaara, everyone stared at him. Since when did he say 'good' in such a normal, maybe even positive, manner? "They need to work things out."

Naruto stared at Gaara. "Whoa. _You_ actually _care_?!"

Gaara glared at his blonde haired companion, "We cannot have Sasuke losing control of his anger and being punished left and right because he doesn't know exactly what happened with Ana and Zabuza."

"So you do care about someone other then yourself…" Naruto smirked. Gaara now looked like he was ready to strangle the blonde.

"Whoa. Back up." Maria replied, interrupting them, "So exactly what happened up there?"

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Ana walked into the bathroom to hear an angry curse of profanities.

"Shit," came Sasuke's irritated voice.

The white haired girl looked over to see her master sitting on a small stool in front of a cracked mirror next to the large wooden tub. He was turned to that he could see his back through the glass. In one hand he held the strange bottle of green medicine for wounds, and with the other hand he was trying to rub it onto his back.

Ana rolled her eyes and walked over to the Uchiha. "Let me help you," she sighed, holding out her hand for the bottle.

"I've got it," Sasuke snapped in response to her offer, and continued trying to apply the green substance to the marks on his back. It looked like he had at least managed to clean off most the blood, extra skin, and dirt already, so that only thing left was the deep gashes.

Ana rolled her eyes once again, and instead of listening to her ungrateful master and walking away, she snatched the green bottle away from him. "Stop being such a stubborn asshole."

Sasuke glared at her reflection in the mirror but didn't try to take the bottle back.

Ana applied some green medicine to her fingers and then gently rubbed it into Sasuke's wounded back. She remembered what sting this stuff had but Sasuke barley even flinched. _"Male egos." _she huffed in her mind.

After a few moments of applying the medicine in silence, Ana asked in a gentle whisper; "So what happened?" She asked even though she had a pretty good idea already.

"Nothing," came the moody reply.

Ana inhaled deeply, "Let me guess: you got blamed and punished for attacking and fighting Zabuza first?" She took Sasuke's silence as a yes. "Why do you let him get to you like that, your so careless. He loves to get under your skin, why can't you keep your anger in check and just ignore him? Why don't --"

"Stop." Sasuke ordered bitterly before she could finish. "You don't know what he said to me, so stop acting like you do."

Ana stopped rubbing to look Sasuke straight in the eyes through the mirror. ""Well, if you would give me more then a one worded answer I wouldn't have to make assumptions, would I?" she seethed.

Ana angrily turned on her heels and stomped over to the shelves with the medical stuff across the room, set the green bottle back and took a roll of bandages off. She sulked back over to Sasuke and began wrapping the bandages around his torso, trying to concentrate on the fact that she was annoyed with him right now, and not the she was so utterly close to him, touching his bare chest. Ana had to keep leaning over and wrapping her arms around him to apply the bandages right, and she could see every pore in his skin, every trace of his muscles, and every drop of sweat that was still there. And it killed her, it made her heart ache, it made her palms sweat and her fingers tingle…it made her irritated.

"I'm not turned on, I'm mad at him, I'm mad at him, I'm mad at him, I'm mad at him, I'm mad at him…"

Yep. There was defiantly something wrong with her.

A tense silence spread out before the teens as Ana continued her work…and mental control.

"Did he rape you, Ana?"

Sasuke's question was so random to the silence that it caught Ana of guard and she hesitated on her wrapping when she heard it. So he didn't know that she had had sex with him willingly? Zabuza obviously must have said something up there.

Ana wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Sasuke. Would he be mad? Would he not even give a rats ass? She decided to go with the latter as she resumed the wrapping. He probably wouldn't even care, so why not tell him?

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'!" Sasuke growled angrily, standing up to face her. The bandages that were still rolled up ready to be used, were jerked from Ana's hands and fell to the ground at Sasuke's feet.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Ana snapped her annoyance rising, "besides you're the one who asked!"

Sasuke looked absolutely furious at the girl. His eyes were flashing dangerously as he started pacing back and forth across the room. "You betrayed me…" he was muttering angrily, "…just like…like…."

Ana wasn't sure who the '_him_' was, but she didn't dwell on it, she was far to irritated at the Uchiha to care.  
"What was I supposed to do, Sasuke?" she yelled, "He was going to take my sisters! He gave me a choice and of course I wasn't going to let corrupted my girls."

"There could have been another way, and all of it started with you blindly agreeing to fight Zabuza in the first place." Sasuke had stopped pacing now to glare hard at Ana.

"What other way was there!" Ana laughed bitterly, staring unbelievably at Sasuke. This was getting ridiculous; Ana already knew that Sasuke was stubborn but not _this_ unreasonable. "The _lanista_ was obviously on Zabuza's side and has always been on his side, so cheating or having someone else fight wasn't going to work--what other choice did I have but to fight?!"

Sasuke seemed like he didn't know what to say for a minute, but after he ran a hand through his hair he answered with the same intensity as before; "If you just would have waited before you fought him, we could have figured something out. But you didn't, and you got your ass kicked. And I bet you didn't even regret it, bet you had fun with him, didn't you…?Your just as bad as the rest of the women here. Nothing but a common whore--"

"Don't you dare call me that!" Ana raged at him, completely angry with him now, her fists clenched tightly causing her knuckled to turn white. She glared at the man before her like she had never glared at anyone before. All the previous feelings she had for him before, slowly started to disappear in the hate that was forming. But under all the hate, she was still conscious of the aching feeling her heart was giving out. She could almost _hear_ it as it shattered into pieces as she listened to him insult her like that and as she fumed back at him.

"I did what I had to for my sisters, no seconds thoughts. I had to protect them, no matter what it cost me. I thought you of all people would understand that," Ana hissed.

That seemed to strike a sensitive nerve in Sasuke, his angry mask seemed to falter a bit.

"And don't you dare try to understand what I went through," Ana continued bitterly. "I'll admit that I did have sex with him willingly, but that does not mean I don't regret every moment of it." Ana took an angry heated breath before saying one last thing; "I don't have to explain my self to you either, I don't even know why I am…but why does a stuck up, cold hearted bastard like you even care anyway."

The rest of Sasuke's angry mask fell and was replaced by something else. "Because I own you," he answered indifferently, "And I don't want anyone touching Uchiha property."

That did it. Whatever was left of Ana's broken heart, froze and crumbled.

She immediately took his indifferent tone as cold, and careless. She narrowed her eyes and stormed up to him to glare but at a closer range, hate radiating off her in dangerous waves. Sasuke seemed taken back for a moment by her sudden outburst and the hate that was evident in her usually strong blue eyes, but he stood his ground like the proud, arrogant man that he was.

Suddenly, when Ana was close enough, she lashed out her hand and smacked him clean and hard across that handsome face of his.

"Asshole," she spat before turning on her heels and storming toward the bathroom door. Before she left though, Ana turned around to a stunned looking Sasuke and hissed; "And to think, even though I knew what I did was right, I still felt way to guilty knowing that I had betrayed you in some weird, screwed up way. But know I see that I wasted my energy and other feelings on a cold hearted prick that couldn't care less about me or my feelings. To him I'm just another cheap item that he owns and is just to selfish to share."

And with that said, Ana stormed out and slammed the door behind her.

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"…wasted my energy and other feelings on a cold hearted prick that couldn't care less about me or my feelings. To him I'm just another cheap item that he owns and is just to selfish to share."

Maria, Gaara, Naruto, and Sakura all suddenly heard that last bitter outburst from Ana, before said girl stormed out of the bathroom herself, looking like she was going to kill the arrogant Uchiha.

Ana didn't say a word to anyone, or even look at them as she stormed out the main door as well.

All 4 teens looked at each other blankly.

"Well I guess that didn't work out the way it was suppose too…" Naruto sighed _after_ Ana had left as he ran a hand through his blonde head of hair. Surprisingly enough, not even he was stupid enough to say anything to her before she had gone.

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Tears threatened to fall as Ana made her way out from under the Coliseum. She sniffed, blinking them back. She was not going to cry, she was not going to cry…Sasuke wasn't worth shedding tears over, she'd decided.

She felt like punching something. So was so angry she was on the verge of tears. He had done this to her. He had mad her feel things she had never felt before. And he had shattered her heart.

Every time we lie awake

After every hit we take

Every feeling that I get

But I haven't missed you yet

Ana could still feel that painful, broken sensation as he yelled at her, insulted her, and made her feel more guilty then she already was. And he meant those things he said too, she could see it in his dark eyes.

Sasuke thought she was no better then a whore. He thought she was just something else he owned and felt the need to protect from anyone else laying their hands on it. She was another item of his property, nothing better.

Every roommate kept awake

By every sigh and scream we make

And she had wasted her time feeling guilty…wasted her energy thinking about what he thought…wasted her feelings on the prick that thought she was no better then the weapons he owned. He obviously couldn't care less about how she felt. Besides she wasn't suppose to _feel_ anything, she was an _item_, and items don't have feelings apparently. _Cold hearted._

And suddenly realized that he had _never_ cared despite the belief she had that somewhere deep down he did. She was just to stupid and blinded by hope to see it. She didn't really blame herself for hoping though, she had to have something to hold on to in this god forsaken place, and it just so happened that she had hoped she could get through Sasuke's cold shell, and try to understand him more.

All the feelings that I get

But I still don't miss you yet

But he really was just a bastard, selfish and cold hearted.

Ana stormed her way to the empty training grounds. She knew where she could vent her anger.

She really couldn't deal with all this shit right now though, she had sisters too think about and protect. Hell, she had a freaking plan to still come up with to get them out of the hell hole. But, of course, she had been too preoccupied with thinking about _him_! Urgh! It was all _his_ fault. Everything.

Only when I stop to think about it

. It felt better and was easier to blame someone else for everything that went wrong in your life. And yet Ana couldn't come to convince herself that.

I hate everything about you

Why do I love you

Ana walked up to a large, rundown sand bag that was hung up on a pole. Perfect for venting your anger.

And yet here she was thinking about him again. _Caring_. Sasuke seemed to occupy her mind a lot, even if she was furious at him. But she shouldn't care what he thought. To hell with Sasuke Uchiha!

I hate everything about you

Why do I love you

But now matter how mad she was, she couldn't bring herself to say that aloud. But why the hell not!? She had every right to scream it at the heavens.

Every time we lie awake

After every hit we take

But she didn't.

Because she loved him.

Wait, do I really think that? Is that why I still care, deep down?

Two opposite feelings. One frustrating man.

How is it possible to feel this way about him? I hate him, that's it. How could it get more complicated then that?

Every feeling that I get

But I haven't missed you yet

It's like the feeling you get when your mad at your family. Your furious with them but deep down you still love them, and you can't change that no matter what. Somewhere along the lines, Ana had grown attached to Sasuke, probably from the little thoughtful, rare things he did, and now she couldn't shake those feelings.

Only when I stop to think about it

Ana hated Sasuke. But she realized that she loved him too. There, she said it.

I hate everything about you

Why do I love you

And it didn't matter if he didn't feel the same way. It didn't matter if he thought of her as an item. It didn't matter if he thought of her feelings as nothing. Because she couldn't change the way she felt.

Damn you, Sasuke.

Ana let out a long frustrated yell and punched the sand bag, hard.

_I hate everything about you_

_Why do I love you_

It felt good.

She gave the bag another punch because she hated Sasuke, she was furious with him. _Thud_.

Then another more vicious punch for loving him… _Thud_…which she'd be damned if she told him that. Just because she felt his way didn't mean she was going to go confessing everything to him; she'd just be making a bigger fool of herself.

A punch for the _lanista, _and whatever stick was shoved up his ass these days. _Thud_.

A punch because Ana still hadn't come up with a plan to get her sisters outta there yet.

A punch because her sister _were_ _even_ there.

A punch, and then another harder punch because Zabuza was sick and because it was all his fault the fight between Sasuke and her happened. _Thud. Thud_.

Ana continued to hit the sand bag harder and harder, even throwing in a few kicks with escalating force, until finally, putting everything she had left into one last punch…which she dedicated to Sasuke, just because. _Thud_.

It was pretty satisfying to see the dent in the sand bag she had made. She _almos_t felt better…until she turned around to head back and saw Sasuke standing just a couple yards away, watching her.

Ana stared at him, her previous anger that she had just somewhat vented, coming back to her, full force.

Sasuke stared back at her, his face void of anything as usual. He opened his mouth to say something but Ana cut him off before he could.

Only when I stop to think

About you, I know

"It's ok Sasuke, you don't have to say anything. I get it."

Sasuke broke his unemotional mask to give her an indifferent look. "Ana, I'm --"

"Your what Sasuke? Your sorry?!" Ana laughed bitterly. She turned her head away, back to the sandbag. She was going to make him understand "You know, the world doesn't revolve around you Do you even think about anyone besides yourself? All this time you've been upset because Zabuza got his hands on something that was yours. Did you ever once stop to think about how _I felt. _About everything that had happened to me physically and mentally?"

Sasuke looked at her, not saying anything because he knew she was right, and she could tell it in his eyes, they looked a little upset for once, and maybe a little embarrassed too.

Only when you stop to think

About me, do you know

Ana sighed heavily when Sasuke was silent, she stared at him for a couple moments, her anger still evident on her face. "But yet after everything, I still can't - urgh! Your just so frustrating!"

Sasuke wasn't ready for what happened next. Ana charged at him, attacking him, trying to punch him.

I hate everything about you

Why do I love you

Sasuke blocked the hits after he had recovered from the shock that she was actually attacking him, trying to hurt him. Ana's anger eventually over powered Sasuke though and she knocked him to the ground with a hard punch to the face.

Sasuke growled frustrated, when he hit the ground to see Ana on top of him glowering down on him, ready to strangle the boy. He'd never admit it out loud but that punch did kind of hurt and he really didn't want to get hit again. Besides, she was really getting on his nerves. All he came up here to do was to talk to her and this is what he got. Time for him to take measures into his own hands.

Before Ana could do anything else to him, Sasuke roughly flipped her over and onto her back so that he was now straggling her. Ana struggled against him, giving a frustrated yell, and trying to push him off her. Sasuke took her wrists and pinned them to her sides, keeping all his weight firmly on her middle, seeing that now she was thrashing about, trying to get away. Sasuke continued to weigh her down as he yelled; "Look Ana, I'm sorry ok!?" Ana suddenly slowed down her fighting body too look him in the eyes firmly. Sasuke glared at her with just as much intensity as that apology hung in the air.

You hate everything about me

Why do you love me

"What did you say?"

"Don't make me say it again," he growled, "I don't do this often."

I hate

Ana stared at him, her eyes showing that she listening and waiting for the rest.

You hate

Sasuke read that in her eyes and sighed a little impatiently because he knew he had to explain. "I shouldn't have said what I said, ok? I just couldn't stand the thought of someone I cared about, someone I trusted, to betray me again like _he_ did…like my brother did. It brought back too many memories and I jumped to conclusions, not even thinking about the finer details of your side of the story. When Zabuza…said what he did, I just flipped."

I hate

Ana looked into Sasuke's eyes, searching for any kind of deceit, but all she could see was sincerity, and she knew it was rare. That meant that he was sorry, and Ana suddenly found herself forgiving him. She slowly cracked a smile.

"What?" Sasuke hissed, clearly embarrassed that he had just apologized to the women and now she was laughing at him.

You love me

But Ana wasn't laughing, she was just happy. _Relieved_. And if she wasn't mistaken, he had said that he cared about her. That probably didn't mean what she hoped it meant, but it was a good start. And also good enough for her to close her eyes, push her head toward his, and press her lips to his, not really thinking anymore about it. So what if he wasn't exactly confessing or anything to her, this was something like the spur of the moment action, and it seemed like the right time to do it.

Sasuke was shocked for the 3rd time that day, frozen by something else this girl did. His mind really didn't register what was going on fast enough before Ana started to have second thoughts. She didn't feel him respond in anyway. This sent warning bells off in her head. She quickly pulled away, red in the face.

"Umm, sorry…" Ana mumbled, biting her lip, looking anywhere but at Sasuke. "Uh, spur of the moment thing…umm -"

I hate everything about you

Ana was cut off by Sasuke's lips on hers. He let go of one of her wrists to put his hand behind her head.

It was Ana's turn to be surprised now, but that was quickly over looked as she smiled into the kiss, using her free hand to run her nails through Sasuke's raven locks, bringing him closer to her.

Sasuke smirked against her lips, which only grew wider and more cocky when he felt Ana playfully nibbling at his lower lip. He opened his mouth, ready to taste her.

Ana giggled to herself as her tongue continued to explored unknown territory. She gave a sexy little groan as she pushed herself tighter into Sasuke's frame. 

Sasuke smirked, aroused by her sudden actions, and put more into the kiss. All he could think about was how much he wanted this, maybe even a little more then revenge, because for the first time in a long while, Sasuke felt loved again.

Why do I love you

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WOOT WOOT! finally! I don't know about what everyone else thinks but that sure took a LONG time…which I am sorry for by the way but to make it up, this chapter's pretty big. I tried my best on it and really put a lot of thought into it so I hope you like it!

THE STORY IS NOT OVER YET, SO STAY TUNED! I plan on at least another chapter, maybe two…with a big battle scene by the way!

---rayluva4


	11. Bets

Alright ppl. I'm thinking one more chapter after this. So sad.

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix -**Glad you liked it! And thank you so much for the review to the story and the other ones too. You have no idea how much they mean to me. Thank you!

**Disclaimer. Of course. Do you really think I would be on fanfiction doing this if I owned the damn show. **

**Chapter ?: Bets**

_Ana was cut off by Sasuke's lips on hers. He let go of one of her wrists to put his hand behind her head. _

_It was Ana's turn to be surprised now, but that was quickly over looked as she smiled into the kiss, using her free hand to run her nails through Sasuke's raven locks, bringing him closer to her. _

_Sasuke smirked against her lips, which only grew wider and more cocky when he felt Ana playfully nibbling at his lower lip. He opened his mouth, ready to taste her._

_Spicy but sweet, Ana giggled to herself as her tongue continued to explored unknown territory. She gave a sexy little groan as she pushed herself tighter into Sasuke's frame._

_Sasuke smirked, aroused by her sudden actions, and put more into the kiss. All he could think about was how much he wanted this, maybe even a little more then revenge, because for the first time in a long while, Sasuke felt loved again. _

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"It's been awhile," Sakura replied worriedly. "Where do you think they're at?"

"Probably fighting somewhere," Naruto shrugged, leaning back in the wooden chair he was currently sitting in, "and I hate to say it, but I think Sasuke's probably beating Ana's ass right now…I mean did you see how pissed he looked?"

"Stop it Naruto, Ana looked just as mad if not angrier then Sasuke," Sakura glared at the blonde headed boy from her place on the couch with Maria, who were both helping each other fold clothes.

"Well, I don't think they're fighting at all," Maria cut in confidently. "I think their making out in some corner or something."

All three of Maria's friends stared at her like she had gone crazy, even Gaara gave her an indifferent look. "What makes you think that?" Sakura asked unbelievably.

"Oh common, they obviously must have made up and now they're off kissing somewhere, and that's why it's taking them so long to come back," Maria explained her reasoning. "I mean don't you think that one of them would have walked away by now, and came back if they were fighting?"

"20 pieces of gold says they're fighting."

Maria turned her eyes to stare at Naruto. "Are you serious?" she challenged, her eyebrows raised.

Naruto nodded. Sakura and Gaara rolled their eyes.

"Fine. Your on."

Suddenly, the main door swung open and hit the wall behind it, creating a loud _bang_.

"You guys aren't going to believe this!" Kiba was a blur as he entered group 40's living room. "Ana and Sasuke are freaking making out all over the training grounds!" Akamaru barked from his place on Kiba's shoulder in support.

Gaara snorted at the irony. Sakura's eyes grew wide. Maria smirked and moved her eyes to stare smugly at Naruto, and Naruto groaned, throwing his hands into the air.

"What?" Sakura questioned just to make sure she had heard right.

"Here let us explain since Kiba it seems can't…" Shikamaru calmly walked into the wide open door way staring embarrassingly at Kiba. Neji followed, his eyebrows raised at his canine looking friend, and with his hands in his pockets.

"We saw Ana and Sasuke yelling at each other first over by the sand bag when we walked passed the training grounds. But then Ana tackled Sasuke to the ground and that's when Kiba insisted we stay to see who won, but they ended up kissing…" Shikamaru explained in his usual bored tone, then muttered, "…troublesome woman."

"Never in my life would I have thought…" Kiba sighed, training off and shaking his head.

A sudden shriek was heard coming from the halls that sounded a lot like Ino. Then, not a second later, said girl, along with Siyra and Mira looking not quite as excited as the blonde, but glowing none the less, came hurling into the already crowed living room.

"Ohmygosh! I just saw the most unbelievable --" Ino stopped short when she saw Shikamaru, Neji, and Kiba standing in front of her. Ino's once beaming smile turned upside down into a heavy frown. "What are you guys doing here!?"

Kiba nervously opened his mouth to explain but Ino refused to wait for an answer she obviously already knew. "You told them already, didn't you!?" she accused, furious now, pointing her finger at her guy teammates. "We were going to be the first to tell them!"

"Bothersome woman…" Shikamaru yelled at Ino, "…stop screaming."

Ino glared dangerously at the lazy man, "I'll stop yelling the day you stop being so damn lazy!"

While this argument was going on, Maria continued to smile smugly at Naruto, who was trying everything to avoid her eyes.

"Fork it over, blondie," Maria demanded, holding out a hand.

Naruto groaned. "What if I don't have it one me right now…" he muttered.

Maria folded her arms across her chest, not believing a word. "Oh really…? Well, then I guess that means you owe me…and you better hurry up or I'm going to start adding interest."

Just then, as everyone was yelling or talking with each other, a happy looking Ana dragging a smug looking Sasuke behind her came into the room, their fingers tightly intertwined. Everyone instantly grew quiet, and it was one of those types of silences where the person or persons who just entered the area knew something fishy was going on, or that they were the topic of conversation, good or bad.

Sasuke and Ana stopped suddenly and looked up to see their friends and teammates all crammed into their living room, and that everyone was 'innocently' looking at them.

"Uhh…"Ana bit her lip, then nervously looked to Sasuke who was glaring at the present company.

"What?" he growled.

Everyone looked at each other. "Nothing…" they all smiled and innocently looked away.

Ana looked suspiciously at Sasuke who shrugged.

"Are my sisters up yet?" Ana wanted to know. She let go of Sasuke and started for his closed bedroom door, where two girls were supposed to be napping.

"Uh…"Naruto looked to the closed bedroom door, staring stupidly at it, not sure of the answer.

"I would be pretty surprised it they were," Sakura cut in, "Naruto's been pretty loud…"

"Hey, no I wasn't, Ino was louder then me, believe it!"

Ana rolled her eyes as she opened the bedroom door and peeked inside. "Naruto their still sleeping, so shut up," she said as she closed the door. "I'm gonna go up and see if I can work out something about their freedom with the _lanista…_"

"I'll walk you up," Sasuke replied bluntly, following her as she headed toward the open main door.

Ana stopped to look weirdly at the all the people still in the living room who hadn't said a word since her and Sasuke had entered.

Siyra suddenly, loudly, and blatantly cleared her throat before she got up. "Yeah, I uh, gotta go make lunch and do some laundry…"

"Me too!" Ino exclaimed nervously, and followed her out passed Ana and Sasuke who both had their eyebrows raised.

"Yeah I'd better, ya know…go help, or whatever…" Mira then left too behind her teammates.

Kiba looked from his leaving teammates to Ana and Sasuke before leaving as well, "Uh…what they said…" Shikamaru and Neji followed.

Now there was only Maria, Naruto, Sakura and Gaara left in the room. Ana and Sasuke gave them one last suspicious look before leaving themselves.

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Ana and Sasuke stopped a little ways away from the _lanista's_ office, which had a guard on either side of the heavy doors.

Ana took a deep breath before beginning to walk toward it, but Sasuke caught her wrist in his hand. Ana turned around to smile warmly at Sasuke. "I got it under control," she assured him. Ana gave his hand a gentle squeeze before turning and approaching the office.

When the two guards that were positioned at the doors saw Ana, their eyes hardened and they glared at her as if she was some type of disease.

"What do you want?" one of them grunted.

"I want to talk to the _lanista _about something important," Ana answered firmly.

"And what would that be, wench?" the other guard demanded.

Ana fought to roll her eyes. She took a deep breath, and in the most calm and respectful way she could replied; "It concerns my sisters who have just recently been added to this place."

The guards looked at each other for a minute before one of them turned, opened the door, and walked inside the office. The other guard stayed were he was in front of the door and continued to stare at Ana. Only about a minute passed before Sasuke appeared behind Ana, wrapping an arm around her waist, and glared back at the guard.

Ana rolled her eyes. "This this really necessary?" she whispered to Sasuke, but he ignored her continuing to stare at the man in front of the door. "_Men and their testosterone…" _Ana thought with a heavy sigh.

About 5 minutes was passed in complete silence, Sasuke and the guard never leaving eyes, before the first guard came out of the office. "Go on," he growled at Ana as he came out, motioning inside.

Ana gave a fake smile in gratitude before leaving Sasuke's side and entering the building.

Inside was the same as she remembered it the first time she had came into the roomy and expensive office. The _lanista_ was even in the same spot as last time, which was behind his chair, and he was currently counting stacks of gold money as Ana walked inside. The door closed behind her.

"Can I help you?" the _lanista_ smiled as she entered.

Ana walked closer to him and his table he was behind, to look confidently into his eyes. "Yeah, you can arrange a way to get my younger sisters out of this hell hole they don't deserve to be in."

The _lanista's _smile vanished, followed by a frown. "And why would I do that?" he asked suspiciously.

'_Because their 8 and 10!' _is what Ana wanted to scream at him, but she didn't. She calmly kept her temper in place and responded back; "I can bargain and negotiate…whatever you want."

The _lanista's_ smile was back in place. "Hmmm…well I guess we can work something out…" he stood up and slowly started pacing the room, thinking hard. Ana calmly watched him, waiting an answer that she could manipulate.

The _lanista's_ eyes suddenly shot in her direction talking Ana off guard for a moment, and his smile grew wider and possibly greedier. Ana could have swore she saw a bright light bulb appear above his head.

"In order for me to let your sister go…" the _lanista_ started slowly still proofreading his plan in his head, "…you have to stay here and serve another 4 years after Sasuke's sentence is over as a gladiator…two years for each sister."

Ana stayed calm; she expected it to be something outrageous like that, and she also expected to negotiate whatever it was with him. "3 months for each sister," she demanded.

The _lanista_ looked appalled. "What!? One and half for each sister then!"

"5 months."

"1 year."

"6 mouths."

"9 mouths and that's as low as I'm going," the _lanista_ replied going back to sit in his chair.

"Fine," Ana replied, some what satisfied.

"Then its agreed: as a gladiator here, you'll continue to serve 18 mouths, which is one and a half years, after your master Sasuke is released…that's 9 months for each sister," the _lanista_ explained. "I'll have a contract made for you to sign in the morning."

"And when's the earliest my sisters can leave?"

"Make sure they're ready at dawn tomorrow morning, I'll arrange for someone to take them to the orphanage in town," he answered sitting down and getting ready to finish his money counting. "…Now leave."

Ana bowed in thanks and immediately left, pretty satisfied with what had come out of that.

"_At least it's not too long after Sasuke gets released, but I have a feeling he's not going to be too happy."_

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Maria and Sakura carried the plates of **?lunch/dinner? **food over to where Gaara and Naruto were sitting which was under a small tree near the kitchen. The girls handed the boys their plates then sat down to eat themselves next to them.

Only after 5 minutes of eating in silence, Naruto replied out of the blue; "So how long to do think it'll be before Sasuke and Ana 'do the deed'?"

Sakura stopped eating to glare. "Naruto, that's none of our business!" she scolded.

"Besides, they're won't do anything while Ana's sisters are here," Maria added, then paused for a minute thinking. "…Tell you what, Naruto. Since you still owe me money, let's have another bet." Maria smiled evilly, "Double or nothing."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Maria. "What's the bet…?" he asked suspiciously.

Maria grinned knowing she had already won him over. "I bet that when Ana's sisters leave, Sasuke will cave first."

"No way!" Naruto yelled suddenly jumping up, and for a second Maria thought he was actually going to decline her bet, until he added; "Sasuke has more control then that, he'll have Ana begging at his feet. Believe it!" Naruto then crossed his arms stubbornly and sat back down.

"Great. Then we have a bet," Maria replied.

Naruto hesitated for a split second, thinking it over. "Fine."

Sakura and Gaara both rolled their eyes.

Maria and Naruto spent the next minute staring each other down before Naruto turned to Sakura and asked; "So who do you think it will be, Sakura?"

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. "Me? Well, I don't know…" The pink haired girl thought hard for a minute before answering; "I guess probably Ana because I don't think she'll be able to resist someone like Sasuke."

Naruto immediately opened his mouth to shout 'believe it' but closed it after what Sakura had said about Sasuke processed in his mind. He paused for a minute but eventually threw his fist in the air happily and said; "Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but ok!" Naruto jumped up from eating, excited by the bet and went too stand over Gaara. "What about you Gaara? Do you have faith in Sasuke?!"

Gaara ignored Naruto and continued to eat his food, looking obviously like he'd decided that he was too good for this.

"Killjoy," Maria hissed under her breath. Gaara turned his eyes to her, and it was possible that Maria could have been seeing things, but she was almost certain that he had cracked a microscopic smile at her just then.

"Well it doesn't matter that Gaara's a crabby ass because it's still 2 against Ana!" Naruto replied cheerfully,  
I'm winning!"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Naruto, it doesn't matter how many people are on your side…idiot."

"I'm still gonna win though!"

"What are you gonna win?" Just then Ino approached the group followed by Mira, Siyra, Neji, Kiba, and Shikamaru who were all carrying plates of food.

"I'm gonna win the bet Maria just set up," Naruto smiled confidently.

"There's a bet?" Kiba asked, his interest peaking. "Well what is it?"

"I just bet Naruto that I think Sasuke will crack first when it comes to sleeping with Ana before she does," Maria explained.

"I want in," Siyra replied immediately, "I agree with Maria. I think Sasuke will cave."

Kiba smirked, "Me too."

Ino and Mira looked at each other. "Same," they both replied, nodding.

"What about you, Shika," Ino asked the pineapple haired man.

"Too troublesome…" was the answer she got.

"Pick one!"

"Fine. Sasuke."

Naruto stared at Shikamaru with his mouth open. "What, you too? Does anyone here have faith in Sasuke!"

"Sasuke may be an ice cube, but he's still a man…" Kiba winked, smirking.

Naruto shook his head. "No way. Sasuke has more control then that!"

"Stop being such a drama queen," Ino replied.

"Look who talking!" Naruto yelled back.

"Naruto, your just jealous we have '_more people on our side' _…" Maria replied sarcastically, grinning from ear to ear. Oh, how she loved to mock him.

Naruto glared at Maria but chose to ignore her and turn to the only person who hadn't been asked what they thought yet: Neji. "So Neji…what do you think?"

Neji shrugged rolling his eyes. "Does it matter?"

"Just pick one, damn it!"

"Ana."

"Yes! 3 against Ana!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

"6 against Sasuke though," Ino argued stubbornly.

"Yeah, but we're going win," Naruto snapped back. "Then you and everyone else is going to feel pretty stupid."

"Are not!" Ino shouted.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are -- "

"What are you guys yelling about?"

Ino and Naruto stopped arguing to see that Ana and Sasuke had arrived. Everyone stared at them, innocently, and it was like deja vu all over again. Ana waited patiently for the answer to the question she had just asked.

"Oh, you know, something stupid like always…" Ino laughed, not meeting Ana nor Sasuke's eyes. There was an awkward silence after that, no one knew what to say.

Siyra bit her lip. "Uh…I gotta go do that laundry I said I finish earlier…!" she laughed nervously and dashed off.

"Oh, and we said we'd help remember Mira!" Ino said, smiling at Mira, who nodded and they took off after Siyra.

"What's everyone's deal today?" Ana muttered to Sasuke who shrugged.

"So, uh, how'd the negotiating go?" Kiba asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh right," Ana started, "Well, they're leaving tomorrow morning…"

Maria smiled. "Well that was easy --"

"…But I have to stay 18 mouths after Sasuke is free and serve as a gladiator…"

Before anyone else could say anything Sasuke snapped his head toward Ana. "What? You failed to mention that part to me," he hissed.

"Well excuse me," Ana snarled back, disliking his tone of voice already, "but I thought it would be better if I told everyone together…besides I knew you'd act like this, and this way I have more people to hold you back from doing something stupid…"

"I'm going back there and giving that son of a bitch a piece of my mind --"

"…Like that," Ana finished rolling her eyes. She grabbed Sasuke wrist before he could move. "You'll just end up making things worse. Your not going."

"The hell I'm not," Sasuke argued. "You could have done better than that, Ana….18 mouths? Jesus… anything could happen in 18 months."

Ana gave him an angry indifferent look, and crossed her arms over her chest. "You think you could have done better?"

"I _know_ I could have. Obviously you don't know how to negotiate the right way."

Ana's mouth flew open. "What? I took his 4 years down to 18 months and I can't negotiate?! What else would you have had me done? Seduce him? Like hell."

"Look, it's different," Sasuke replied, calming down a bit. "He doesn't look at you the same way as he does me. I'm a male, your female."

Ana snorted. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Should I name a couple of tough situations you _didn't_ get yourself out of…?"

Ana's eyes flashed and she gritted her teeth together. "What exactly are you implying, Uchiha?"

Naruto, Gaara, Maria, Sakura, Kiba, Neji and Shikamaru all looked at each other. Kiba silently motioned with his head that they better leave before things got really messy. They all nodded and quickly left the tense area for safer ground.

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The fleeing group decided the best place to go would be back to their respectable dorms, after all Naruto, Gaara, Kiba, Neji, and Shikamaru all had to get ready for another training session pretty soon.

When group 40 minus Sasuke and Ana entered their dorm room they saw that Serenity and Cassandra were already up and moving around.

"Hey," Sakura smiled warmly at the two younger girls as she walked in. "Did you guys just wake up?"

Serenity shrugged. "Just a little while ago," she answered quietly, "then we just got a bath."

"Where's Ana?" Cassandra wanted to know and not as quietly as her sister had been.

"She'll be right back," Maria smiled, "She's…uh, a little busy at the moment." Sakura and Naruto smirked at one another.

"Just make yourselves at home girls," Sakura replied as she walked over to sit on the couch and watched Naruto and Gaara disappeared into their rooms to get ready for training. Maria went inside the bathroom to get the dirty laundry then headed for the main door. "I'll go ahead and do laundry for today," she told Sakura, going out the door.

Sakura nodded as Serenity and Cassandra came to sit by her.

Only 5 minutes later, Ana and Sasuke came through the door with 2 plates in their hands.

Cassie and Serenity stopped talking to Sakura who they had just been getting along with, to jump off the couch and cling to Ana.

The frown Ana just had planted on her face when she walked in, instantly turned upside down and she smiled widely at her sisters, her eyes becoming brighter every second.

"Hey girls," she grinned as she was forced to stop since the younger girls prevented her from moving any farther. "Are you hungry?"

Serenity and Cassandra both nodded, letting go of their older sister and rushing over to the wooden table to take their places so that they could eat. Ana and Sasuke sat down next to them, while Sakura left the dorm to go and help Maria with the laundry upstairs.

"Here," the white haired girl smiled as she passed the plate she was holding over and placed it in font of her sisters, "share this."

Ana watched as Cassie and Serenity dug into the food hungrily. While they ate, she took a lose piece of Cassie's white hair, who was closest to her, and started to twist it playfully around her finger.

Sasuke, noticing that Ana didn't have anything to eat, pushed his plate toward her with a grunt, silently ordering her with his eyes to eat.

Ana looked up from playing with Cassie's hair when she saw the plate come towards her. She first looked at the plate then up at Sasuke. She rolled her eyes, glaring at him, making it obvious that they still hadn't found smooth ground with what had just happened upstairs.

"Just eat it," Sasuke muttered to her, staring right back.

Ana sighed, snatching a couple things off his plate, pushing it back, then plopping them into her mouth. She hadn't released she was so hungry until she actually starting chewing. Ana's stomach gave a hungry lurch as she finished off the food that she took.

The quickness that Ana had eaten her food did not go unnoticed by Sasuke; he could tell that she was starving. He took another bit off his plate then pushed it over to Ana again, getting up from the table.

"I have training in 10 minutes," was all the handsome raven haired man said as he left the main room and disappeared into his room to get ready.

Ana didn't get a chance to say or do anything. All she did was smile gratefully at his plate of food, now in front of her, and enjoy it with her sisters.

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That night Sasuke stood at his bedroom door, watching as Cassie and Serenity got into his bed. He had just gotten back from training and hadn't seen Ana since he'd left, and now he was waiting for her at his door.

For a couple minutes, Sasuke watched Ana's sisters giggle and talk quietly to each other before Ana finally came out of the bathroom obviously just from a bath.

Ana stared straight ahead, ignoring Sasuke as she tried to walk passed him into his room.

Sasuke smirked, grabbing her by the waist, and pulled her into him. Ana sighed looking up at him, seeing the cockiness in his eyes. He leaned down until his mouth was inches from her ear and whispered; "No offense, but I can't wait until your sisters are gone -"

Ana glared at him.

" -because then we can have this whole room to ourselves…" Sasuke trailed off suggestively as he traced tempting circles over Ana's lower back.

Ana sighed in excitement, trying her best to control the pleasure that was slowly poisoning her body, making her tremble slightly. Ana took a deep breath, composing herself before whispering back; "Since you put it that way…and I feel terrible saying this…but I can't wait either…"

Sasuke smirked, knowing he had won once again. He always won, and he always will. "So does that mean you forgive me?" He asked as he kissed her neck a couple times.

Ana grinned, "Yeah I guess it does."

Sasuke removed his face from her neck to kiss her mouth and Ana easily complied. The kiss didn't last very long due to Cassie looking over and interrupting it.

"Do we really have to go?" the littlest sister whined from Sasuke's bed that was across the room. Serenity immediately shushed her sister when she realized that Ana had been busy when Cassie had interrupted.

Ana smiled against Sasuke's lips, hearing the question, as she pulled away. Sasuke reluctantly pulled away with a heavy frown on his face. "I take it you already told them then?" Sasuke whispered.

Ana nodded wiggling out of Sasuke's grip, and walked over to where her sisters were. She took a seat next to them on the bed, turning out the blankets and holding them up so that Cassie and Serenity could get under them. Once nestled in place, Ana placed the covers over both girls and looked them both seriously in the eyes.

"If this was any other place, I would love to have you girls stay with me, but you can't," Ana explained, "it's to dangerous."

"But what about you?" Serenity asked.

"And who's going to look after us?" Cassie added.

Ana smiled, glancing over her shoulder at Sasuke who was staring at her with that infamous unemotional mask of his, before answering; "I'll be fine, don't worry about me, and I wouldn't worry about yourselves either, nothing will happen to you. Tomorrow you'll go to an orphanage and trust me, it'll be safer there then it is here."

"But I don't want to go…" Cassie whined loudly, her dark blues eyes starting to fill up with water.

"I know sweetheart," Ana smiled sadly, reaching out and running her fingers through Cassie hair soothingly, "but I promise as soon as I get out of here the first thing I'm going to do is get you out of there, and I'll have plenty of money and I'll have a nice house built for us, and we'll live together…ok?"

"A big house?"

"If you want one," Ana promised smiling. Cassie nodded, "I want a palace."

Ana laughed, "We'll see about that." She then kissed them each on the head and started to get up. "So are you guys ok?" she asked first looking at Serenity, then at Cassie. The two girls nodded.

"Good. I'll see you guys in the morning."

Ana walked back over to Sasuke who was still waiting for her at the door. "I think I'm going to sleep in here tonight with them," Ana replied.

Sasuke nodded, seeing a small tear forming in her eye. He reached up with his thumb and whipped it away then kissed her goodnight and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Ana sighed as she walked back over to the bed where she found that both her sister were miraculously already asleep. She crawled in next to them, being careful not to wake them, and as Ana laid her head down on the pillow and watched them as they slept, she could feel her heart tugging and starting to break. Cassandra and Serenity hadn't even left her yet, but Ana was already staring to suffer. She was trusting a man she hated to bring them safely to a place outside this, and then not expect to see them for another couple of years. These two girl were the only family she had left, and she was letting them go.

"_It's for the best…," _she told herself, _"…Anywhere but here…" _ Hopefully they would be ok until she came for them.

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Ana woke Cassie and Serenity up early the next morning. No one else was even up yet, so she quietly snuck them out of the dorm and to the kitchen to get them something to eat before they left.

After eating with them, meeting the _lanista _at dawn, and signing the contract, Ana saw her sisters off. She kissed them each multiple times while making many promises before a wagon finally came and took them away and out of the school.

By the time Ana got back to group 40's dorm everyone was already awake and moving around, getting ready for the day.

Sasuke was the first to see her when she came in to the room. He looked up at her, clearly relieved that she was back.

Upon hearing the main door open Maria and Sakura appeared.

"So I guess they're gone, huh?" Sakura asked sadly. Ana nodded staring at the ground indifferently, almost like she was in her own world.

"They'll be ok, don't worry," Maria added encouragingly.

When Ana didn't make any signs that she had heard, Sasuke walked up to her, putting his hands on each of her arms. "You ok?" he asked sternly.

Ana seemed to break out of her thoughts and looked up at him for a minute. She then walked passed him into his room asking, "How long do you have until your morning training?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the disappearing woman. "A while…why?"

Ana reappeared in the main room with Sasuke's sack of weapons thrown over her shoulder. "I need something to do to take my mind off things," she answered, "mind working with me for a while?"

Sasuke shrugged, "Fine. Let's go." He turned and walked out, with Ana right behind him. Before she left though she asked Maria if she wanted to come.

"Yeah, I'll be up in a minute," came the smiled answered.

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Sasuke and Ana trained for a while together before Maria and Gaara came up to join. Gaara started teaching Maria some new defense moves while Sasuke continued to work with Ana on her speed and pressure points. Both groups worked hard up until it was time for the boys to start morning training. Ana and Maria left to help Sakura with daily chores.

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Metal clashed with metal as Sasuke's sword came down upon Naruto's. Unfortunately today both boys had been paired to fight against each other for practice. After watching other groups go before them, it was finally their turn.

Naruto blocked another one of Sasuke's swings with his own weapon as he brought down one of his legs to trip Sasuke. Sasuke plummeted to the ground, but not before he quickly took out two needles from his back pouch and punctured Naruto's right arm with it, parallelizing his whole limb and causing him to drop his weapon.

Before Sasuke hit the ground, he gracefully rolled onto his side, getting out of the way. Naruto cursed under his breath as he stopped to look at his arm. He saw two needles sticking out from his skin; he tried to move his fingers, but they wouldn't budge. With his left hand he reached over and removed the needles, pulling them out and throwing them to the ground. With the same hand he picked up his fallen weapon.

Just as Naruto looked up, he saw that Sasuke was already coming at him, not wanting to give Naruto anymore time. The blonde haired boy quickly did a one handed back flip, using only his left hand, but Sasuke kept coming at him.

Naruto did his best to counter Sasuke's quick movements, only coming out with a couple gashes before his right arm slowly started tingling back to life.

Feeling more confidant then before, Naruto charged Sasuke this time, whipping out two short blades to attack with. Naruto swung one. Missed. Charged twice. Swung. Missed again.

_Damn it, _Naruto cursed to himself. He suddenly got an idea. _Just wait till I get under his skin…or at least distract him…_

"So…" Naruto started as he came charging at Sasuke again, "…have you and Ana 'done the deed' yet?" Naruto smirked heavily to himself; of course he knew the answer to that, but he had to start somewhere.

Sasuke was a bit taken back by the question. He jumped back, leaping out of the way of Naruto's weapon just in time. "None of your business, dobe," he frowned.

"I'll take that as a no," Naruto replied coming at his raven haired friend again, only this time with two long swords that he snatched from his waist. "And it's a good thing too."

Sasuke reacted instantly, lifting his own sword that was dangling at his waist, and blocked Naruto's weapons. Now both boys were face to face, only inches apart, each one trying to over power the other

Sasuke gave a slightly confused look as he pushed against Naruto's strength. "And why's that?"

"Well, I kinda bet a large some of money that Ana would cave before you do when you guys finally do, do it." Naruto's explanation came out it a rushed grunt as he strained to push back against Sasuke.

"You did what?!!" Sasuke's enraged voice filled the surrounding area as he let the pressure off of Naruto and side stepped causing the blonde to come crashing to the ground in front of Sasuke's feet with a surprised yelp.

Once in the dirt, Naruto whipped his body around and looked up at Sasuke's angry eyes. "Ah! Don't kill me!" he yelled shrinking away from the death glare that was directed at him. _Shit, bad idea…_he thought, _that went over much differently in my head._ Naruto was smart enough to know that Sasuke was seriously mad at him.

Sasuke did a surprising thing though; he composed himself, put his sword back in it's place around his waist, and held out a hand for Naruto to take.

Naruto started suspiciously at pale piece of flesh for a moment before finally taking it and getting back on his feet.

"What makes you think that I'm going to miss out on sleeping with Ana just so you don't lose a little money?" Sasuke finally asked once Naruto was up and one of the guards on duty called the next group out. "You have seriously got to be the biggest loser I've ever met."

Naruto was silent for a moment as they walked out of the way of the next group, his brain whirling. Ok, so Operation Distract Sasuke So That He Gets His Ass Kicked hadn't worked the way he had planned it, but so what? Now Sasuke knew about the bet, and if Sasuke knew about the bet, then he could get Ana to cave first and he would win the money!

_I am such a genius…_Naruto smirked to himself. "Think about it, teme…everybody's in on it," Naruto explained, his new plan fresh in his mind. "What would they think if they knew you gave in first…?"

"The hell of I care what -"

"…What would they think about the name Uchiha? About the man who gave into a woman?"

That stopped Sasuke dead. His pride slowly started raising to the surface. Naruto's smirk grew bigger, knowing he had won.

"You can even think about it this way: You won't really be missing out on anything. All you have to do is get her to cave first, get her to want you more, get her too beg you to take her," Naruto replied in his most tempting voice, and very much proud of himself, knowing that he was getting to Sasuke.

"After all how hard should it be for the great Sasuke Uchiha to seduce a simple woman into submission?" Naruto trailed off suggestively, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

Sasuke only gave a frustrated grunt in reply as he turned around and stalked off to the water station to get a drink without another word.

But Naruto knew better.

He confidently made his way back over to group of gladiators that where watching the currant fight. _Ok so I didn't win the fight just now, but I'm going to be 40 pieces of gold richer!_

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Ana sighed heavily as she made her way to the bathroom to clean herself up. It was already starting to get dark and she hadn't seen Sasuke all day, not since that morning. Hell, she hadn't seen any three of the guys since then, the _lanista _having ordered them to be worked harder today with more training sessions.

Ana was actually feeling rather lonely with her sisters being gone and not seeing Sasuke.

_He must be starving if he's just been training all day…_she thought absentmindedly as she started to fix herself a bath.

No sooner had she finished preparing it had gotten undressedand hopped in, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

"It's me," came Maria's voice, "Mind if I join you?"

Ana called out that it was ok to come in, so Maria opened the door, walked in then shut it behind her all while nursing a mysterious grin on her face.

Ana raised an eyebrow at her friend as Maria got undressed and hopped in to the large wooden tub.

"So where's Sakura?" Ana asked when she realized that the pink haired girl hadn't followed Maria in.

Maria shrugged, "She said she wasn't feeling that well and headed off to bed early…but that's not really what I came in her to talk to you about…"

Ana stared at her friend, waiting for her to go on.

Maria bit her lip. Should she tell Ana? Yeah it might be cheating but she couldn't stand to see that look on Naruto's face she had seen earlier. He had looked so confident when she had seen him and even when she had made a smart comment about the bet…hell, he hadn't even bothered to say anything back to her. He had just given her a smirk and calmly walked off. Something was defiantly wrong with that picture, and Maria knew it, and she wasn't about to let Naruto show her up or even take any risks in that direction.

She took a deep breath and started explaining.

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Ana stared at Maria blankly when she was finished talking.

"Huh?" she asked finally after a moment of silence.

"Please, Ana…I know you can do it," Maria begged desperately after seeing anger starting to form within her friend's eyes. "Besides it's double or nothing!"

Ana thought quietly for a minute, long and hard, then finally replied; "Alright…"

Maria's eyes lit up.

"…but not because I care if you make a little money, but because I think that this will be a whole hell of a lot of fun."

"That's the spirit!" _And I'm going to be just that much richer!_

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Sasuke opened the bedroom door and walked in to see Ana already in there, sitting on the edge of his bed facing the door, her legs crossed, waiting for him with a mischievous little smile planted on her lips.

Sasuke dropped his bags of weapons at the door and inwardly smirked at the girl waiting for him across the room.

_This is going to be a piece of cake, _he thought smugly.

"Did you eat?" Ana wanted to know after they had stared at each other unmoving for a while.

"I'm suddenly not hungry," Sasuke answered lustfully.

Now it was Ana's turn to smirk. _This is going to be so easy…_

Ana stood up. "Let me help you get some of that stuff off." Sasuke came over to her while Ana held out her hands to untie the belt that was holding Sasuke's swords around his waist, and let it drop to the floor with a soft _thud _that cut through the thick silence. Next, Ana gently guided him around and pushed him on the bed so that he was sitting on the edge of it. She looked up into his eyes, staring intently into them while she slowly started running her hands down the white shirt that covered his chest, down his sides, and then his legs until she was kneeling on the floor in front of him. Ana then sat down on her legs, took one of his feet onto her lap, and started to undo the worn sandal that was there. When she was done she set in on the ground then started on the other foot.

Once done with both feet, Ana looked up so that she could see Sasuke's expression which seemed calm enough, starting back down at her.

Ana smiled, suddenly coming up with an idea that should have him caving in seconds. She slid her hands back up his legs and onto his knees, lifting her body up to a kneeling position in the process. With her hands placed firmly on his knees and without leaving his eyes, she pushed outward, separating his legs just enough so that she could fit her body in-between them.

Sasuke's breath hitched slightly in his throat as she moved her petite frame in-between his strong legs, and pushed herself against him.

Ana's ears picked up the sound of Sasuke's quiet but quick breathing and silently congratulated herself. She continued to look into his dark eyes; even though his breathing had quickened he was still very good at keeping his face composed, but his eyes however did seem to have a little lust forming in them.

Ana took the chance to lean in to kiss him. She got close enough so that their lips almost touched, but at the last minute she turned her face away and started kissing his neck instead, rocking her body into his.

Sasuke felt excitement and anticipation starting to coarse through his veins. He felt himself harden slightly against her, aroused by her movements. It took everything he had to keep his face steady and emotionless, but he knew his eyes were starting to betray him, he could tell by the way Ana looked at him with her big blue eyes, reading his own with hers. Sasuke was surprised how hard this was turning out to be…never had a girl the power to do this to him.

He controlled his feelings though and pushed his desires away. As much as his body insisted he give in, he was not going to; he was Sasuke Uchiha for crying out loud! Besides he knew what she was doing; she was teasing him, and doing a good job at that. Well, he could tease too. At least this meant that she wanted something to happen tonight.

Instead of responding to Ana and kissing her neck back, as she was doing to him at the moment, Sasuke whispered in her ear. "I'd better go get a bath," he said, starting to make movements to get up, like everything Ana had just did had hardly effected him.

Ana was confused at first as she watched him move, still kneeling on the floor. But just as he was almost out of her reach she lashed out her hand and grabbed his wrist. "No, wait!"

Sasuke stopped and turned his head to stare down at her. Was it really going to be that easy?

Ana instantly averted her eyes to the floor when she realized what she had just done. She awkwardly cleared her throat, her cheeks heating up from embarrassment. She let go of his wrist. "Yeah, your right, you better go. You smell like crap," she muttered lamely.

Sasuke snorted, turning to walk out the door. _Damn, almost had her…but that was kinda close_. This was turning out harder then he first thought. This girl could seduce back!

Sasuke went into the bathroom and splashed some water onto his face clearing his head and letting his emotions calm themselves down before preparing for his bath. _I'll make her wait until I'm done. By then she should be ready to give in. _

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Ana was standing up pacing the room when Sasuke walked in from his bath, his hair damp and messy, and without his shirt on.

Ana's heart gave a nervous stutter as she stopped to stare at him and lust started forming within her. Just looking at him made her want to give in so badly; so what if Maria lost a little money, Ana could easily just sleep with her boyfriend! But no, that little stubborn part of her wanted even more badly to win, even if she wasn't gaining or losing money; it was all about the pride. It _was_ kind of suspicious though…why wouldn't Sasuke just give in to her if he knew what she wanted? Did he want to tease her back the way she was doing to him? Did it make him feel more aroused if he played around before he finally got down to business? Ana was having a hard time figuring him out, but when had it _ever_ been easy to read Sasuke?

Sasuke smirked when he saw that Ana was stating at him. Oh yes, he was convinced that leaving her to wait had been a great idea; now he defiantly had her.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke teased as he approached her.

"Nothing," Ana returned calmly, just composing herself.

Sasuke wrapped an arm around her waist when he was close enough, pulling her body closer to his bare chest. "Pleased with what you see?"

Ana snorted at his confidant tone. "Oh, spare me," she mumbled.

"What, I don't arouse? Not even in the slightest?" He purred, capturing her lips between his.

Ana moaned hard into the kiss, trying to take back control of the situation. When Sasuke let go of her lips, Ana slowly and seductively ran her tongue across her lower lip, tasting him, before answering his pervious question. "Nope," she smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Not even a little bit?"

"Nope, not at all," she lied.

"Well to be perfectly honest you arouse me," Sasuke whispered leaning in closer to her face, causing her to shudder from excitement. Sasuke smirked, kissing her neck gently.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Ana whispered back after a few moments of silence, the only noise coming from Sasuke kissing on her neck.

"What are _you_ waiting for?" Sasuke countered in to her shoulder.

"You first," Ana moaned softly letting her head fall back giving him more access and seconds from caving.

Even with all the desires floating around in the air making it thick with want, even with all the lust coursing through his body, and even feeling the heat coming off Ana's body in waves, Sasuke's mind was still able to work and put two and two together. He stopped kissing her neck suddenly. "You know about the bet don't you?"

Everything seemed to stop for Ana; the time, the excitement, the lust, it all seemed to freeze and suddenly disappear what he said: Ana had just witnessed her first extreme mood killer. Her head snapped up and she looked him square in the eyes, completely surprised. "How do you know about the bet?" she demanded.

The couple glared at one another. Everything was back to normal again; all anticipation and excitement gone.

"Well I'm not giving in," Ana replied stubbornly after a while of staring and crossed her arms. She turned away from him and any temptation he might try to push her way again.

"And your stupider then Naruto if you think that I'm going to give in."

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Ana snapped whirling around to face him.

Sasuke groaned clearly irritated. "I said if you think I'm going to give in."

"But you were implying it!"

"No I wasn't," Sasuke argued, "Of course you would take something like that and manipulate it to sound that way," he mumbled that last part to himself. But Ana heard, and so the first lonf night without Serenity and Cassandra started.

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Hmm I think the next chapter will be the last. So it might be pretty long but I'll try my best to hurry it up.

Plz review!

---rayluva4


	12. Last Good Night

Alright ppl

Ok so I lied about only having one more chapter….there is actually going to be one more after this. It was only going to be one chapter but I got a little carried away so this one would have been extra long if I would have continued which means more time before I update.

So here you go, chapter 12.

**Warning**_: a sad attempt at somewhat of a mild lemon toward the end_.

**You have been Warned**.

Disclaimer, of course.

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix**- omg, I know I said that this chapter would have fighting and everything, but I'm sorry, it'll be next chapter I promise! And some shika and kiba later I think lol. But thank you for the review! **  
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Recap:

Even with all the desires floating around in the air making it thick with want, even with all the lust coursing through his body, and even feeling the heat coming off Ana's body in waves, Sasuke's mind was still able to work and put two and two together. He stopped kissing her neck suddenly. "You know about the bet don't you?"

_Everything seemed to stop for Ana; the time, the excitement, the lust, it all seemed to freeze and suddenly disappear with what he said: Ana had just witnessed her first extreme mood killer. Her head snapped up and she looked him square in the eyes, completely surprised. "How do __you__ know about the bet?" she demanded. _

_The couple glared at one another. Everything was back to normal again, all anticipation and excitement gone. _

"_Well I'm not giving in," Ana replied stubbornly after a while of staring and crossed her arms. She turned away from him and any temptation he might try to push her way again. _

"_And you're stupider then Naruto if you think that I'm going to give in." _

"_Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Ana snapped whirling around to face him._

_Sasuke groaned, clearly irritated. "I said __if__ you think I'm going to give in."_

"_But you were implying it!" _

"_No I wasn't," Sasuke argued, "Of course you would take something like that and manipulate it to sound that way," he mumbled that last part to himself. But Ana heard, and so the first long night without Serenity and Cassandra started. _

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Chapter 12: Last Night

Sasuke woke up the next morning feeling completely irritated; he felt like he hadn't gotten any sleep the whole night, when in reality he hadn't even woken up once.

His onyx eyes opened and he was greeted with the two things that had caused his horrible night of sleep. One was the pretty little white haired girl sleeping like a baby peacefully beside him; the other was a stiff pillow that had been wedged between him and the girl.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at both the pillow and Ana. If it weren't for Ana, there wouldn't be any pillow, and if there weren't a pillow between them, Sasuke would have a bit more room to move around instead of being cramped up the whole night.

After finding out about the bet that had been going around, Ana stubbornly declared that she was still sleeping in his bed, but demanded that there be a pillow between them so Sasuke - because she didn't trust him – would keep his hands to himself. Being as pissed off as he was last night, Sasuke agreed, thus leading to the current predicament of not getting a good night's rest.

Sasuke stared at the back of Ana, since she was facing the other way, and rolled his eyes. When she said she wasn't going to lose the bet, she was serious.

_This is all Naruto's fault…_Sasuke growled to himself. _If he had never told me about that damn bet, Ana and I would have slept together, Naruto would have lost his money, and I wouldn't have cared because he never would have planted that whole Uchiha ego in my mind…_

Sasuke continued to stare at Ana's back and the white hair that was cascading down her pillow, and on the pillow between them. Sasuke got the sudden urge to just run his fingers through it, then his hands down the length of her body, which he denied himself because that would be weak. Instead he came to the conclusion to just kill Naruto for starting it all.

Sasuke carefully pulled himself up off the bed and stretched out his cramped muscles before leaving his room. Outside in the small living room, Sasuke saw Naruto sitting on the couch by himself; no one else was in the room. He was digging through his bag of weapons that were placed between his legs.

Sasuke shut the bedroom door behind him, then glared at the blonde on the couch.

As he waited for Naruto to notice him, an idea suddenly popped into his head: _What if Naruto planned this from the beginning …what if that's who told Ana as well? _The only reason for him to do so would be to make Sasuke look like a totally fool by turning him and Ana against each other. That fact that Naruto thought he could get away with that made Sasuke even angrier. He continued his glaring as he silently seethed.

It took a couple seconds before Naruto realized that there was someone else in the room. He looked up at Sasuke and immediately his face brightened.

"So teme, how was last night!?" he asked excitedly, throwing his bag aside.

"Horrible."

Naruto's face twisted into confusion. "She was that bad?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No idiot, nothing happened."

"What! What do you mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds."

"Was it that hard for you to do…?" Naruto was completely confused now; he really hadn't believed Sasuke couldn't do something as simple as this.

"She knows about the bet," Sasuke growled, summing everything up. He then carefully watched Naruto's reaction to see if the blonde had really done this on purpose; to see if his face broke into laughter because he thought Ana and him where complete idiots for falling for his trap. The reaction he got though surprised him: Naruto's face fell into a heavy frown when he heard.

"Oh, really?" Naruto asked suspiciously then fell silent to muse things over in his head.

Sasuke was really confused now; so Naruto hadn't set the whole thing up? Then who told Ana?

Naruto's head suddenly snapped up, as did his whole body as it angled for Gaara's bedroom. He gave Sasuke an innocent smile. "I'll be right back…I just need to see Maria for a minute –"

"You're not going in there to wake her up because of your stupid bet," came Gaara's deep order. He seemed to come out of no where.

Sasuke looked over at the red head to see him heading for the bathroom. "You know about the bet too?"

Gaara nodded. "Unfortunately yes."

"But your not the one he made it with…" Sasuke confirmed, already knowing the answer but now having a good idea of who it might be.

Gaara shook his head. "I think you have an idea of who that might be." After that was said, Gaara disappeared inside the bathroom.

Just as he left, Sakura came out of Naruto's room looking rather annoyed as her fingers rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"You don't realize how loud you guys are…" she grumbled.

Naruto smiled slyly. "I'm sorry Sakura," he apologized sweetly, feigning innocence.

Sakura rolled her tired eyes. Even though she was still half-asleep she could tell that Naruto wanted something by the sound of his voice.

She sighed. "Whatever, Naruto…what do you want?"

Naruto jumped right in, not even hesitating to ask. "Will you _please_ go wake Maria up and tell her to come out here?!" he begged.

Sakura put a hand on her hip. "Why?"

"Gaara won't be mad at you if you woke her up," Naruto explained. "…And besides, Maria cheated!"

"This isn't about that bet is it?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

"Of course it is, and Maria _cheated_!" Naruto repeated dramatically. "She must have told Ana."

Sakura sighed, not saying another word and turning to Gaara's room.

Now there was no question about it: Maria was the one Naruto bet against, which would be the reason why he wanted to talk to her so bad about it, and Maria was also the one that most likely told Ana, or so Naruto thought.

_This is ridiculous_…Sasuke thought…_and annoying_.

So Naruto hadn't planned this on his own. It all happened because both Naruto and Maria were sneaky cheaters.

The dark haired boy sighed loudly… maybe Naruto was as dumb as he looked. Sasuke couldn't even imagine how he could have believe Naruto was capable to come up with something as smart as to turn both Sasuke and Ana against each other, just to make a fool out of them, that was way to clever for the blonde.

Sasuke turned and headed for his bedroom, leaving said dumb blonde in the living room alone. He figured he'd better go tell Ana what was going on and get this whole stupid thing straightened out.

The sooner the better.

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Sakura walked into the dark bedroom, leaving the door open behind her for some light.

_This whole bet turned out to be just stupid…_she thought to herself as she made her way over to the sleeping girl on the floor. Sakura looked down at Maria who was curled into a ball on the floor with blankets wrapped tightly around her. The pink haired girl sighed and she bent down to wake her friend up.

"Maria?"

Said girl just grunted incoherently.

"Hey, Naruto wanted to talk to you," Sakura told the girl gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It has something to do with that bet you guys started."

Maria tiredly rolled over to face Sakura and lifted her head off her pillow. "Huh? Did we find out who won?" she asked. Maria looked interested now but still tired.

"You'll have to see when you get out there," Sakura sighed, "Naruto's being a drama queen again."

Maria nodded slowly getting up from her makeshift bed. She had a feeling that something went wrong.

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Sasuke looked down at the sleeping girl on his bed trying to think of the best way to wake her up. Would she be mad if he touched her? After all, last night she had said that she 'didn't trust' him or his hands.

Finally he just decided that he didn't care, and nudged her in the arm.

"Ana, wake up."

The white haired girl didn't make any signs that she had heard.

Sasuke sighed, irritated by her lack of response. "Hey, get up," he ordered louder.

Ana cracked open one eye and immediately groaned when she saw who was talking to her. "What do _you_ want?"

"Just thought you'd like to know that Naruto is out in the living room getting ready to accuse Maria of cheating because you know about that bet…" Sasuke shrugged, "…guess you don't care – "

"You have to be kidding me," Ana breathed, cutting him off and jumping out of bed. "Why didn't you say anything about Naruto telling you also?"

"Maria wasn't even out there yet," Sasuke replied watching her as she passed him, "Besides this damn bet wasn't my idea, I don't care who gets blamed for cheating and who doesn't."

Ana ignored his answer as she pushed her way out into the living room, which seemed to have everybody gathered in it now. Gaara was standing next to the bathroom having just come out, and Sakura was next to Gaara's bedroom door watching as Naruto and Maria stood in the center of the room glaring and arguing between each other.

"You told Ana!" Naruto was accusing Maria as Ana came out into the living room.

"Did not," Maria denied, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest. "Besides how would you know…?"

"Sasuke said –"

"Sasuke said he knew too," Ana suddenly cut in while glaring at Naruto. "So obviously she's not the only one who told."

The stubborn line on Maria's mouth curved upwards into a knowing smirk.

Sakura stared unbelievably at both Naruto and Maria from her place next to Gaara's bedroom. "So you both are cheaters?" She shook her head in disappointment, "You know the whole point is for them not to know..."

Gaara rolled his eyes as he left his place next to the bathroom door and started to walk to his bedroom

As Ana watched him go she said, "Ok, well now that that's all out in the open, I'm gonna go get a bath and let you two work it out." She started heading for the open bathroom door, when she felt Sasuke beside her.

"I'm joining you," he announced softly in her ear as he came up behind her.

Ana suddenly stopped and whirled around to face him with one eyebrow quirked. "Bet or no bet, it's still on, and I'm not backing down…you'll have to, if ya know what I mean…?"

Ana gave Sasuke a smirk as she pushed gently against his chest to back him up before turning back around and going into the bathroom.

"I'm coming also," Maria announced, before she turned around to glare at Naruto. "I don't want to talk to you right now anyway."

"I'm coming too," Sakura added, following behind Maria.

Naruto gave Maria a surprised but sour look after registering what she said to him. "Good, I don't want to talk to you either…cheater!" he yelled after her.

Sakura rolled her eyes before disappearing into the bathroom. "Oh, like you have room to talk, Naruto!"

Sasuke glared, extremely annoyed, as he ignored Naruto's bickering, and watched as Sakura and Maria followed behind Ana into the bathroom. Even if Naruto was too stupid to have planned the whole thing from the beginning, he still somehow managed to ruin Sasuke's fun anyway.

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The rest of the day went by as usual: the guys went for training at different parts of the day, while the girls got caught up on their chores.

The real problem started that evening.

It happen after all of group forty had just sat down to eat dinner. A mean looking guard came pounding on their door to pass on the message that the _lanista_ wanted to see Maria and Ana in his office.

The girls reluctantly dragged themselves up from the table and followed the guard out.

The sun was just starting to set above ground, casting long shadows over the dirt. The girls continued to follow the guard over the training grounds and to their destination, where surprisingly, he opened the heavy wooden door for them. Ana and Maria cautiously stepped inside the expensive office.

Heavy doors closed behind them. Inside the girls were surprised to see that they weren't the only women in the room, and it actually seemed quite crowded.

As usual the _lanista_ was seated behind his large marble desk, but standing in front of him were seven other girls.

Siyra, Mira, and Ino were all there standing close to each other, and standing next to them, much to Ana and Maria's disgust, were Kin and Temari.

When she had heard the doors open then close, Kin turned around to see who had joined them. When she saw that it as Maria and Ana, a disgusted frown made it's way onto her lips and she used her elbow to nudge Temari who was next to her.

Temari's head snapped around to glare at Kin, who in turn simply motioned toward the new comers. Temari smirked hatefully when she saw them.

Both Ana and Maria rolled their eyes at the blonde and the dark haired girls before walking over and standing next to the other two girls who they didn't recognize, facing the _lanista_.

The older man looked the nine girls over in front of him. His elbows were propped on his desk, and his chin was resting on his folded hands; he looked like he was thoroughly thinking something over as he looked at them.

Maria took the time to curiously turn her eyes to the right to look over the unfamiliar girls. One of the girls, the one closest to her, had a cute, friendly looking face, with warm brown eyes, and a head of thick chocolate brown hair scrunched up into two tight buns on the top of her head.

While that girl looked kind and subtle, the second girl looked almost the exact opposite of that with hair of a bright ruby red color, piecing hazel eyes, and very fierce looking features, such as her high cheekbones and somewhat pointed nose. All this was set on clear tanned skin, and her ruby hair was styled choppy and messily, only coming down to her shoulders. Probably the only thing subtle on this girl was her thin pale lips.

Finally the _lanista_ started to talk. Maria tore her eyes away from the unfamiliar girls to show she was paying attention.

"Good evening ladies…" The _lanista_ eyed each and every one of the girls in front of him and smirked slyly. It was the kind of smile that screamed 'I know something you don't know!' and that he clearly didn't mind rubbing it their faces either.

"As you all may or may not know, a large event is taking place inside the Coliseum in honor of the emperor's birthday the day after tomorrow. There will be plays, executions, hunting games, and most importantly gladiator fights," he explained then leaned forward in his chair to stare at them intensely.

"In addition to the traditional gladiator fights, I'd thought I'd throw in something for a little extra entertainment, something different…a group of female gladiators working together inside the stadium…and that's where all of you come in."

The nine girls in front of him all gave him blank stares in return, none of them really seeing what was so exciting about it.

The _lanista _just smiled that same knowing smile and said, "Congratulations, you've all been chosen to participate in a very much anticipated, and new event for the emperor's birthday."

"Who will we be fighting?"

Maria turned her head to see that that ruby haired girl had asked that. She was surprised, that voice sounded too smooth and soft to belong to such a fierce looking girl.

"I guess you'll find out, won't you…" he laughed lightly, like it was some inside joke meant only for himself.

"Any more questions?"

"Yeah, do we really have to fight with them?" Kin asked bitterly, pointing over to Maria and Ana.

"Or can we fight _against_ them…?" Temari suggested.

Both Ana and Maria rolled their eyes.

"We'd prefer it that way," Ana retorted, her and Maria started to glare bitterly at them.

"Ladies, ladies…save it for the stadium…" the _lanista_ ordered lightly but looking very interested now. "I don't care what you do out there…the less expected the more exciting…"

"Can't wait," Maria hissed in Temari and Kin's direction.

The _lanista_ cleared his throat loudly before anyone else could say anything. "Anyway, if there are no more questions, then you may leave. I wanted to tell you this so you could all prepare…I except a good show out all of you…"

As soon as the last word came out of his mouth, Kin and Temari were out the door. Siyra, Mira, Ino, Maria, and Ana all filed out after.

"Was it just me or did it look like he had a little more up his sleeve…?" Siyra asked the girls around her as soon as they were out of hearing range of the office.

"Oh, no doubt there was something more then he was telling us…" Ino replied, "…there always is."

"Guess we'll find out. Nothing we can do about it anyway," Mira said.

Suddenly the girls heard light footsteps catching up behind them. All five girls turned around to see the unfamiliar brown and ruby haired girls from inside the _lanista's_ office approaching them.

"Hey wait up!" the brown haired one called.

Ana, Maria, Ino, Mira, and Siyra all stopped and watched curiously as they waited to see what these unfamiliar women wanted.

"Sorry," the brown eyed girl greeted once caught up and standing in front of them, "but we thought since we were going to be fighting together, we should introduce ourselves…My name's Tenten, and this is Alexandria," she said pointing to the ruby haired girl standing next to her.

"Rhea," Alexandria corrected in that same soft voice that didn't seem to fit her. She was smiling at the other girls.

Ino smiled. "Hey, yeah, I think I've see you guys around in the kitchen before," she said, "I thought you looked a little familiar…I'm Ino."

The rest of the girls said greetings as well.

The girl named Rhea seemed to recognize Ana and Maria when they introduced themselves.

She studied them with her deep hazel eyes briefly before saying, "Hey, weren't you two the girls who got in that fist fight with Kin and Temari a while back?"

Ana and Maria turned their attention to Rhea and nodded.

Realization dawned on Rhea's face. "That's what I thought," she said. "So then I guess you already know those two are more talk then anything."

"They can definitely hold their own though in the Coliseum though," Tenten added.

"We've never seen them fight," Ana replied, then looked over at Maria and grinned, "but we're looking forward to it…"

"Will this be your first fight?" Rhea addressed all the girls in front of her.

Ana looked around at the other girls who were all shaking their heads.

"I guess I'm the only one," Ana shrugged with a nervous smile.

But Rhea ignored Ana and looked at Maria suspiciously. "You've fought here before?"

"Yeah, she fought in the stadium with that tiger, remember Rhea…she was the fight before us, we watched from the west gates…?" Tenten asked nudging her.

Since Tenten pretty much said it all, Maria just smiled at Rhea, nodding in agreement.

Rhea bit her lip as she concentrated. "Oh, yeah, that's right," she realized, giving Maria an apologetic look, "nice fight by the way."

"Thanks."

"So anyway, we thought it'd be a good idea to introduce ourselves," Tenten shrugged, ready to leave and starting to turn away.

Ino, Mira, Ana, Maria and Siyra all said bye.

"Good luck training, we'll see you in a couple of days!" The brown haired girl started to leave, waving as she went. Rhea gave a small but warm smile with her pale lips, and followed her friend.

Once they were gone, the girls walked back under the Coliseum in the dark, then separated to go to their rooms. Now all they had to do was tell the guys the news.

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But the boys weren't too happy about it.

Gaara tried to hide his anger but as a result became even grumpier then ever and spend the rest of his night sulking around.

Sasuke didn't say much, unless you counted the stream of profanities muttered under his breath. He even tried to isolate himself inside his bedroom until Ana barged in and much to Sasuke's irritation wedged a pillow between them and went to sleep.

Naruto, on the other hand, remained his normal happy self, repeating over and over again to Sakura how glad he was that she wasn't a gladiator.

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"Get up, now."

Ana cracked open a tired eye to see Sasuke standing over her, an unreadable expression on his face. She groaned loudly to express her irritation, but Sasuke kept standing there, looking down at her.

"What time is it?" she asked, slowly sitting up.

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke replied, turning around and starting to walk toward the bedroom door, "just get dressed in that gladiator uniform."

Ana scowled weakly at his back as he left. She already had an idea of what they were going to do: train. She had a pretty good feeling it was also an unreasonably early hour.

Ana sighed as she got up and got dressed. She decided that she wasn't going to even bother with a bath if she was just going to be sweaty and dirty all day anyway.

Once ready she headed to the living room. There she saw that Maria was already sitting on the couch arguing with Gaara - if you could even call it arguing since Gaara wasn't saying anything it was all Maria talking - as he pick out weapons that were laying on the table and threw them into a brown bag he was holding. Sasuke was doing the same next to him.

" –All day to do this, and you could have thought of a better way to wake me up then throwing water all over me! Your such and inconsiderate jerk!" Maria was scowling as Ana went to join her on the couch.

The white haired girl didn't saying, thinking it better to just stay out of it; she could tell Maria wasn't it the best mood this morning. Obviously the boys were on the same page and didn't say anything either, they just tried to dull her out as she continued to yell.

By the time the boys were done and ready to walk out the door, Maria had run out of things to yell at Gaara for. She just followed quietly behind the boys and next to Ana as they left.

"Where are Sakura and Naruto?" Ana asked Maria gently. Maybe it wasn't the best idea but she wanted to know.

"Sleeping," Maria scowled, "the lucky bitches."

Ana's eyes bulged. Wow, she really was in a sour mood.

The four continued walking until they finally made it up from under the Coliseum and into the perfect, clear morning. Actually it was still a bit dark but light was slowly starting to come in from the sunrise.

"Wow, how'd I'd know it'd be so early…" Ana muttered sarcastically more to herself since Maria was still sulking. The brown haired girl heard it though.

"They always want to start so early in the morning, don't they," she groaned to Ana who nodded.

They walked out to the empty training grounds and the boys dropped their bag of weapons on the ground.

"Ana your working with Gaara today," Sasuke instructed immediately, not wanting to waste any time. "Maria you're with me."

"Why?" Maria challenged crossing her arms.

"You need more offense and Ana needs defense," Gaara snapped at her attitude. "Any more questions?"

Maria huffed. Taking Sasuke's bag of weapons she passed her red headed master to walk to some empty space where her and Sasuke could work.

"Fine, I'd rather be with you anyway, Sasuke," she hissed, but instead of looking at Sasuke while she said this, she glared at Gaara.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, following behind the girl.

Ana sighed as she watched Sasuke and Maria walk a little ways away for some room. She then turned to Gaara to see when exactly they were going to start, but he was already digging through his bag for some weapons to start with.

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Sasuke and Gaara basically did the same drills as always did, but this time it was for a different girl.

The two pairs worked hard through the morning, only stopping twice for a quick break.

Some time during the early morning, having just come from breakfast, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Mira, Siyra, and Neji all came up to also train for tomorrow. They started just a little ways from Group 40.

Not too long after that Sakura and Naruto appeared with some leftovers for their friends.

After a quick eating break it was back to training.

"Gaara and Sasuke work them so hard," Sakura mused out loud to herself as she watched her friends fight and helped Naruto clean up.

Naruto shrugged. "They care about them," he answered even if Sakura didn't want a reply.

"Sasuke and Gaara don't want anything to happen to them in the stadium…they want them prepared, it's their way of showing they care."

Sakura stopped what she was doing for a moment to look over at Naruto.

It took Naruto a minute to realize Sakura was looking at him. When he finally did he stopped what he was doing and looked back at Sakura, smiling warmly.

"If you were fighting, I'd do the same thing."

Sakura blushed a little. She turned her attention back to cleaning up a few plates to hide it. A shy smile even found its way on to her lips without her realizing it.

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Throughout the day, Sakura went back and forth from doing chores to watching her friends train beside Naruto.

As it grew later in the day, the pink haired girl became bored from having finished all the chores, and with nothing else to do, sat beside Naruto who was sitting underneath a small tree a little ways away from Gaara, Sasuke, Ana, and Maria. She sat herself down on top of the dry dirt and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

With the afternoon heat baring down upon her, and with nothing else better to do then ignore Naruto's ramblings and watch her friend's endlessly train, Sakura's eye lids began to droop. Realizing what was happening, she furiously rubbed at her eyes to clear them. It frustrated her that she was so bored that it was causing her to fall asleep, when she could be like Ana or Maria and get to fight…at least that was something to do.

Sakura was sick of watching Ana and Maria do all the fighting. She was tired of the one being left on the sidelines.

It was then, as she sat next to Naruto in the hot Italian afternoon, that she came up with an idea. Suddenly, she jumped up onto her feet, interrupting Naruto and whatever he was saying, and grabbing his wrist in the process to pull him up with her.

"Naruto, train me how to fight too!" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Naruto's expression went from confused, to surprise, and finally rested on amused.

"Oh common, Sakura," he grinned, "no offense, but you and I both know your not made to fight…you're too fragile."

Even though it was clear Naruto hadn't meant to insult her, he was merely stating a fact he thought was true, Sakura still couldn't help the anger she felt toward the blonde or how her blood started to boil as she glared at him.

Before she could even think about it, Sakura lashed out her clenched fist and punched him hard in the side of the jaw. Naruto went flying backwards and landed on his back.

Immediately pain shot up from Sakura's knuckles, up her arm and too her brain. She hissed painfully, instantly retracing her hand to her body.

Naruto lifted his head up off the ground slightly to tilt his head toward his pink haired servant. He had the most bewildered look on his face as he stared at her unbelievably, a look that Gaara and Sasuke surely would have made fun of him for if that had been watching.

The blonde boy blinked once then twice as blood started to leak from a fresh cut on his lip.

The too teenagers stared silently at each other for a while.

"Damn Sakura, where the hell did that come from?" Naruto finally managed to ask.

Sakura seemed confused as she looked from her throbbing hand to Naruto and back again. To be honest, she really didn't have an answer. She clenched and unclenched her fist trying to get rid of the pain before finally shifting her eyes to glare uncertainly at Naruto.

"W-well…you were acting like a jerk!" she snapped in her own defense. The two continued to stare silently at each other before Sakura asked stubbornly, "So are you gonna show me how to fight or not?"

Naruto wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand and looked up at Sakura. He smiled widely.

"Sure Sakura, I'll show you some moves."

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When Ana, Maria, Sasuke, and Gaara all finally started to pack up their weapons and quit for the day, they headed back toward their room, passing Naruto and Sakura on the way. They were surprised to see the position the blonde and the pink haired girl were in.

Sakura was fast asleep, her head in Naruto's lap, while he looked smugly up at his friends as they approached.

"How do'ya like that," Naruto boasted, pointing down to the cute girl in his lap.

All four friends just rolled their eyes and started to walk back to their room while Naruto kept talking, totally oblivious that his friends weren't paying attention to him and actually leaving.

"…I just wore her out so much, cause ya know, I just have that many awesome moves and –hey! Where are you guys going? Wait for me!"

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As Ana walked, she silently wondered if Naruto even figured out that they had left while he was too busy talking. She turned her head around to see if he was still sitting with Sakura in his lap under the tree.

Obviously Naruto was a little smarter then she thought because he was a little ways behind them, following with a peacefully sleeping Sakura held bridal style in his arms.

Ana turned her head back around feeling a warm smile make it's way involuntary onto her lips after seeing the two. She looked ahead of her. Sasuke and Gaara were a couple steps in front of her and Maria, leading them to Group 40's room.

Ana's blue eyes automatically wandered to the dark haired boy in front of her. She let her eyes watch the way his body moved and the way his strong legs tensed as he lead them down a flight of stairs that flowed into the passageways and rooms under the Coliseum.

She realized she hadn't talked to Sasuke but maybe once or twice the whole day. This made her feel guiltily all of a sudden. She was going to fight tomorrow and what if she didn't come back?

_No that's not going to happen…. _

Still Ana couldn't help but feel some doubt and nervousness pulling at her heart and making her stomach to flips. There was always that possibility that she wouldn't come back, and her and Sasuke were still somewhat avoiding each other because of the bet, weren't they? Did she really want to leave things rocky with him?

No she didn't.

Somehow she had to show him how she felt before tomorrow…how much she loved him.

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"I don't know about you guys, but I'm still hungry."

Maria looked over at her white haired friend who was relaxing in the warm water around them, with a hand placed over her stomach. She was looking down at it with a disappointed expression on her face. Maria could feel that she was still sort of hungry too, even though they had just got down eating a moment ago.

"I think I am too," she added.

"It was all that training you guys did today," Sakura smiled playfully. "It made you two have the appetite of Naruto."

Maria laughed while Ana smiled at Sakura's joke as she put soap into her hands and ran it through her hair.

"So how was training with Sasuke?" she asked Maria as she dipped her head back into the water.

Maria looked over at her friend from across the tub and shrugged. "Ok, I guess." She sat back against the edge of the tub and threw her arms over the side. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I like training with Gaara better though."

Ana nodded. "Yeah, it was nice training with someone new, but I think I'd rather stay with Sasuke's way."

"At least you both have offense and defense now," Sakura reasoned, on the other side of the water, "I thought it was a really good idea to switch it up."

Ana and Maria both agreed before they went back to washing themselves.

A thick silence started to float over them.

Sakura looked from one of her friends to the other. Neither of them looked nervous or anything about tomorrow's big fight. Hell, _Sakura_ was terrified and she wasn't even fighting. She was scared for her friends, scared of the possibilities of one of them not coming back…or both.

Sakura didn't know if she should say anything to them or not…she didn't want to scare them just because she was. Besides, it seemed like if she didn't talk about it, it wouldn't happen; talking about it would somehow make it reality.

Sakura bit her lip as she picked up the nearest bar of soap and ran it over her body, thinking hard. Finally, the pink haired girl couldn't ignore it anymore. She set the soap down and looked intensely at her friends.

"Aren't you guys nervous about tomorrow?"

Ana and Maria exchanged glances.

"A little," Ana shrugged, "why?

Sakura continued to bite her lower lip. She averted her eyes down to the water that was at level with the top of her chest.

"What if something bad happens," Sakura asked quietly. "What if you don't come back?"

Maria reached over and out to Sakura's chin, pulling it up so that she could look at her straight in the face. Sakura looked back with sad eyes. Maria smiled slightly, trying to comfort her.

"It'll be ok, Sakura," she said. "Sasuke and Gaara taught us well, and besides, there will be seven other girls. We'll help other out."

Sakura sighed, looking up at Maria then Ana. "I hope your right."

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15 Minutes later the girls walked out of the bathroom, and to their surprise they saw Naruto and Gaara still awake sitting in the living room. Naruto was sitting on the couch, looking quite serious, and saying something to Gaara. The red head was sitting across the room on a chair at the wooden table, listening silently to what Naruto was saying to him.

"Wow, I'm surprised you two aren't already asleep," Maria said to the two boys as she come out of the bathroom. "You've already bathed and you've eaten. I mean, if I were you, I'd been asleep already."

Maria then put a hand on her hip and stared at them suspiciously. "So what are you talking about that's so important?"

Naruto had stopped talking to Gaara the moment the girls had appeared and now just shrugged casually at Maria.

"Nothing," he replied defensively. Garra just glared at Maria, who ignored him, for being so nosy.

Ana would have to agree with Maria, but she thought it was even more a surprise that the two boys were getting along with each other; it really must have been something important. But where was Sasuke? Shouldn't he be in here too?

"Where's Sasuke?" Ana asked voicing her concern.

Naruto looked to Ana. "He's in his room," he answered.

That was all Ana needed to know. She turned around and headed for the room her and Sasuke shared. She didn't care what the boys were talking about anymore, or why Sasuke wasn't there. Ana needed to talk to him…or maybe not exactly _talk_, but she had decided on a way to let him know how she felt for him before tomorrow, and she was letting him know now, asleep or not.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked curiously as she watched her friend walk away.

"I need to talk to Sasuke," Ana answered simply as she pushed said boy's bedroom door open and let herself in.

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Sasuke was wide-awake when he heard his bedroom door open, then quietly close as someone stepped inside. He had a feeling it was Ana.

The dark haired boy was laying on his side, his back to the door, and his bare chest exposed as he waited for Ana to come over to him; he needed to talk to her about tomorrow. Sasuke wanted to make sure, one last time, that she was focused. The last thing he wanted was for anything to happen to her.

Sasuke even had the bed ready for her. He had pulled the rough blankets back and put the pillow that had made it's home between them in it's right spot. He figured if she were comfortable she would be easier to talk to.

Sasuke lay perfectly still on top of his bed, waiting patiently for her body to appear and walk it's self over to her side and lie down. But he just waited…and waited.

Was it just him or was it taking a long time for Ana to walk over?

He listened hard. It was silent. No sign of moving…so what was she doing?

Just when Sasuke was about to turn around and see what was keeping her, he felt a weight push down on the little space that was left on the bed behind him. Soft white hair brushed across his skin, leaving it tingling and finally fell over his shoulder.

The next thing he knew, Ana was kissing him. She started on his ear, biting it gently, then moved her lips down his jaw line leaving soft kisses and finally started to work on his bare neck.

As much as Sasuke enjoyed this, it wasn't too often that he liked surprises. He liked to know to know what was going on and this was no different.

He suddenly rolled over to lie on his back, causing Ana to stop, and looked up at the girl leaning over him.

Ana looked back down with mischievous blue eyes.

Oh, so _that's_ what was going on. She thought she was going try and trick him into caving first again. Well, she was wrong.

"You know, I do have my limits," Sasuke explained, "and I've decided that I don't want to lose the bet either even if there isn't one anymore."

He smirked, "It's all about pride now, so either you stop or you lose."

Ana stared down at him. She raised a delicate eyebrow when she saw that Sasuke was challenging her with his deep dark eyes.

Finally, she laughed softly as she leaned down to kiss his bare chest. She trailed kisses over his collar bone and then to his lips where she kissed him gently once, then many more times harder.

Ana's full weight was on Sasuke's side of the bed now as she started her hands at his hips, and then trailed them up his sides to rest on his chest as she continued to kiss him.

Sasuke welcomed all this eagerly. He even had to suppress a moan that threatened to escape when she playfully started chewing on his lower lip. Finally, he felt her shift her leg over him so that she was straddling his waist.

After that, Sasuke had to pull away from her lips to smirk and look her straight in the eyes.

"So does this mean I win?"

Ana shrugged carelessly. "Yeah, I guess it does." Then went straight back to what she was doing.

Sasuke decided he was taking charge now. Since when did Ana start giving up so easily? Something was wrong with this girl and he was going to find out. Without warning he took Ana by the hips and rolled her over so that he was on top of her now.

The annoying pillow that was placed in the center of the bed was pushed off.

"How about this," Sasuke started as he looked down at Ana. "I won't tell if you won't."

"How generous," Ana smirked distractedly, carelessly waving it off as she lifted her head up to kiss him gently between his peck muscles.

"But only –"

Ana groaned loudly, cutting him off. Since when did Sasuke start wanting to talk so much? All she wanted right now was to kiss and touch him, and he wanted to _talk_?

_What in the seven hells is wrong with this guy? _

"–but only if you tell me why the sudden urge to loose the bet after being so stubborn about it."

Ana immediately deflated.

_Oh great. He really does want to talk, doesn't he?_

The white haired girl laid her head back down onto the pillow, looking anywhere but at the man hovering over her. She didn't really want to talk. Talking meant explaining, and explaining meant getting into the subject of the battle tomorrow, which was kind of a sensitive subject for them to talk about…or at least for her it was. Sakura made her remember all the risks that were involved in tomorrow's battle. The possibility that she could die and never see Sasuke, or her friends, or sisters again was a major consequence.

And all of it was real.

Sasuke slowly rolled off Ana to lay down at her side. He could tell by the way she was avoiding his eyes that talking was not something she wanted to do. But something was defiantly going on, and he wanted to know.

"You know I don't like being kept in the dark, Ana. So what's going on?"

Ana turned her head over and finally looked at him. She tried to relay some sort of hint to him, but his stubborn dark eyes wouldn't budge.

She sighed; a few strands of loose hair blew off her face.

"I…really like you, Sasuke," Ana started to say as she bit her lip.

"And the battle tomorrow…well, I don't know what could happen, I've never been in an arena fight before."

Ana sighed again and looked away from Sasuke's eyes. Being under his constant intense gaze was making her uncomfortable right now. She was trying to express her feelings and his eyes staring at her weren't helping, if anything they were making her even more embarrassed. Ana could feel the heat rising to her face and her heart beating radically in her chest.

She kept her eyes away from Sasuke's, afraid to look at him. She was ashamed she felt so embarrassed all of a sudden…why couldn't she just come out and say it?

I love you.

Sasuke continued to look at Ana. He was a little confused by her actions. Ok, so she really liked him…he could have guessed that, but what was making her blush so much? Something must be really bothering her if she was having a hard time coming out with it. She also mentioned the fight tomorrow…was that what was bothering her? Was she nervous about it or something?

Just say it.

"Sasuke, I think I'm in love with you," Ana suddenly blurted out.

To be honest Sasuke wasn't really all the surprised by her answer. He continued to look at her, but she was still avoiding his gaze. Sasuke reached over and took her chin in his hands, turning her face so that she would look at him.

Ana's eyes finally were forced to look at Sasuke but she still couldn't help her eyes from wandering though.

"Ana, don't be embarrassed to look at me," Sasuke ordered.

Ana reluctantly looked at Sasuke and noticed that the once intense onyx orbs had softened a little, probably as soft as they were going to get.

She sighed. "I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure I showed you how much I loved you before it was too late."

Sasuke looked at her for a couple more seconds, before finally pulling her face toward his and giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

"I love you too," Sasuke whispered into her lips, which sent tingles down Ana's spine, "but are you sure you want to do this?"

Ana didn't hesitate to nod.

Sasuke searched her face to see if this was really what she wanted. A nervous and flushed, but excited face looked back at him.

Ana took his silence as hesitation; a no to what she wanted to do.

What's wrong with him. Just the other day he was practically begging me to sleep with him…what's his problem now?

Then it came to her: the bet; that's what the problem was.

So he was only going to sleep with me because of the bet? Is that it?

Ana felt a bit betrayed.

"Fine," she said, trying to make her voice sound angry and not hurt. She hastily tried to get up from the bed, wanting to put space between them "I guess if you don't care –"

Before she could finish, Ana was yanked back down on the bed. Sasuke had pulled her down and climbed on top of her in one quick movement, and pinned her to the mattress.

"I didn't say that. All I wanted was to know what was going on," Sasuke explained with a small smirk on his lips. "But now since I know…"

Ana sighed contently as Sasuke leaned down to kiss her, his body only hovering inches above her own, and already she could feel herself relax. Everything already felt like it was normal; she had gotten what she needed to say out of the way, and it turned out he did care.

Ana kissed Sasuke back, and only a couple seconds into the kiss, Sasuke wasn't hovering over Ana's body anyone. He laid his body down on hers, and it only took a couple moments before their bodies molded tightly together.

Ana then felt Sasuke take her left thigh into one of his hands and lift it up. Ana was only happy to wrap it around his waist, pulling her body harder against his.

A deep moan lifted from Sasuke's throat.

Ana smirked as she gently pulled away from his lips, forcing him to kiss the side of her mouth. Sasuke didn't hesitate though, he moved right to her jaw and started to leave kisses there instead.

"So now I guess this means I win…"

Sasuke stopped kissing her and looked up, a confused looked played on his face.

Ana grinned innocently.

"Well I did stop and was going to leave, but you were the one who pulled me back down and started it again…so technically…"

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow at her as she trailed her sentence off; his eyes practically glaring, 'are you kidding me?'

Finally, after smiling at his bewildered face for a while, Ana give in.

"Oh, all right…I won't tell if you won't."

Sasuke response to that was engulfing her lips with his.

It was only a couple minutes later when Ana felt that same hand that had been on her thigh, which was still wrapped around Sasuke, move up under her night dress and finally rest on the side of her butt. This movement pushed most of the bottom of her dress to come to her waist now, exposing both legs and the thin white cloth she wore under her dress as underwear.

Ana was the first to break their kiss for air, while Sasuke went straight from her mouth to biting on her neck.

Ana closed her eyes and took deep breaths through her swollen lips, trying to slow her now racing heart. In only the span of a couple minuets the mood had switched from playful to hot, and now Ana could feel desire and adrenaline racing through her.

Sasuke knew she was at her breaking point and didn't want her to fight it. Using the hand that wasn't on her butt, he ran it over the skin of her right shoulder, pushing the top of her nightdress down further so that the bare skin of her shoulder, collar bone, and the top of her chest were exposed to him. That's when Sasuke started leaving kisses over her newly exposed skin, and that's also when Ana let herself go, tilted her head back, and let out a surprisingly loud moan.

Sasuke chuckled into the soft flesh on her chest, as Ana mentally slapped herself; did she have to moan that loud? Jeez, what was wrong with her, couldn't she have helped that?

Great, his ego probably just skyrocketed…

After pulling herself together, Ana decided she wasn't about to let Sasuke have all the fun.

She took his face into her hands and gently pulled it up so that she could kiss his mouth. At first it was soft, then turned rougher, and that's when Ana took the time to gently run the tips her fingernails down the length of his bare back.

Sasuke's body responded exactly how she guessed it would. She felt his muscles tighten against her body, and a shiver ran down his spine. Then finally, the moment she had waited for, with her dress hitched all the way up to her waist, she felt an erection pushing against the thin cloth that she wore under her dress as underwear.

It was Ana's turn to smile.

Sasuke could feel her lips pull into a grin against his, and he could feel exactly why too. He rolled his eyes. Fine, if she wanted to play that game, he could too.

But before he could even do anything, Ana had used all her strength to roll him over, so that now she was straddling him.

Ana looked down at him smiling widely, her white hair falling messily over her shoulders. She leaned down to kiss all over the front of his chest, her hair tickled his skin as it brushed over it.

She trailed her kissed down and wiggled her body back so that she could kiss his sculpted abs.

Ana kissed all way down to the waist of his pants before looking up to see Sasuke's face.

Ana wasn't too surprised that his dark eyes were hidden behind his lids and his head was tilted back and mouth parted. She watched his chest rise and fall rapidly.

Sasuke noticed that Ana had stopped. He opened his eyes to look down at her to see why she had stopped.

Teasing blue eyes greeted him.

"I'm I getting to you yet?" she asked him sarcastically.

A low irritated growl erupted from his throat.

"Alight, alright…I'm sorry," Ana replied as she rolled her eyes. She leaned down to kiss him sweetly, her long hair tickling the sides of his face.

As soon as their lips touched, Sasuke grabbed the back of her neck and pushed her lips harder in to his.

Ana smiled, nibbling on his lower lip. Sasuke gladly opened his mouth, and immediately made sure he dominated the kiss.

After a while, Ana stopped the kiss to breathe. Air came out of her parted lips in short breaths against Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke moved his hands to her thighs, molding their hips together.

Once Ana caught her breath, she firmly put her hands on Sasuke's chest and pushed herself up.

Sasuke looked up at her, confused.

After silently looking back at him for a minute, Ana simply raised her arms above her head with a smile playing at her mouth.

Sasuke knew what she wanted almost immediately. He smirked, lust playing in his dark eyes, as he removed his body from under Ana so that he could sit up, and with both hands, took the bottom of her already disheveled night dress and slowly pulled it over her head.

Only a couple seconds later, Ana was sitting in front of him with only the white cloth she wore on her lower half.

Sasuke threw the dress to the floor, never taking his eyes off Ana.

Said girl only bit her lower lip nervously, searching his face his eyes looked her over, trying to gauge his reaction. What did he think of her? Was he disappointed? Why was he not doing anything?

But before another negative question could cross her mind, Sasuke had her by the bare hips and was gently rolling her over.

Ana's back sunk into the bed, and Sasuke pressed his heated body on top of hers.

He kissed her ear once before whispering, "You're perfect."

Ana smiled, immediately feeling better and more confident. She even could feel her heart speeding up, but in a good way, it was a giddy, excited feeling. Now they were getting somewhere.

After he was sure she was reassured, Sasuke moved to her bare chest excited to be kissing new skin.

Ana let a few soft moans escape her parted lips. Every where he left a kiss felt like it was icy hot, and soon he was trailing those kisses down her stomach and finally to her lower abdomen where he stopped.

It took Sasuke all of 5 seconds to slip her 'panties' off and throw them to the floor.

The dark haired boy went straight to her mouth again to kiss it, crushing their bodies together once more, and running his hands up her bare sides as they kissed.

Ana could feel against her naked body that Sasuke was more aroused then ever; she was started to get a little impatient herself.

She pulled back from Sasuke's kiss and raised an eyebrow.

"Ok, this, "she said looking him up and down, "is not fair."

Sasuke propped himself up a bit, with his two elbows supporting his weight on either side of Ana, and looked down at himself.

His pants were still on. He knew that's what she was referring too.

Sasuke moved his head back up so that he could look at her. Their faces were only inches apart and Ana had to focus her eyes to see that he was smirking at her. His eyes gave what he wanted away; she knew she was going to have to take his pants off if she wanted them off.

Ana smiled back at him. "Fine," she whispered seductively, her breath teasing his lips.

She covered the short space she had to his lips and kissed him a couple times softy.

Sasuke leaned his head down to kiss her back, but kept his elbows on either side of her, keeping his body propped up over her.

While Ana kissed him sweetly, she moved her hands to his firm shoulder blades and ran them down the length of his back, gently exploring every back muscle.

Then Ana's hands made it to the waste of his pants.

First, she teased the skin around the waistband by running her fingers suggestively from his back to his front, where her fingers lingered and made small sensual circles below his belly button.

Sasuke, distracted from their kisses now, let off her lips to leaned down even more and bury his face in the crook of her neck, still keeping his body suspended over her so that she had space to keep her fingers where they were.

A couple low moans came from deep within Sasuke's throat, and Ana could tell he was trying hard to keep them in, which is why he kept trying to bury his face deeper and deeper into her skin.

Ana smirked and kissed side of his head that was right in front of her face.

After deciding that she was done playing around with him, she moved her hands to the side of his pants, and slowly slipped them under the waistband, and pulled them down.

Sasuke lifted his lower half up so that she could more easily get them off. It was only a couple of seconds before Sasuke kicked them the rest of the way off.

While Sasuke was busy kicking his pants off, Ana took the time to look down at the one part of him she had never see before.

Her eyes widened.

Sasuke lifted his head back up to her excepting to continue kissing her, but instead he was surprised to see Ana's blue eyes wide and staring downward.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked smugly, although already having a good idea of what the answer was going to be.

Ana quickly shook her head, but her eyes never lifted to his face. "Nothing…" she lied timidly at first.

Then she started to bit her lip. "Uh…it's just that, well…I didn't know…" Ana shifted conformably under Sasuke. "…I mean…you'll a lot bigger than Zabuza was…and I don't know if it'll…um…fit?"

Sasuke's first instinct was to be furious and disgusted that she would even bring that asshole up. But then he saw her cheeks were painted red and her eyes were nervous.

That's when Sasuke realized just how funny the situation was, and that Ana had just really insulted Zabuza without even realizing it.

Sasuke grinned and leaned down to kiss her forehead comfortingly.

"It will."

Sasuke positioned his body over Ana's, and then leaned down to her ear.

"Are you ok?"

Ana nodded against his face.

"Just nervous."

Sasuke pulled back to give her a puzzled look.

"Why? You've done this before."

As much as Sasuke didn't want to say it, it was true, and he was trying to figure out why she was nervous. He didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.

"I didn't want too last time... and besides this time it's different because it's with you, and I really, really want this." Ana explained sincerely as she stared back at him. She already felt better just saying it out loud.

Suddenly she smiled seductively and started downward again. "But I would have to say the real reason is that thing…are you sure I'm not too small for that?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He could tell she was loosing up a bit from the look she gave him and her tone.

"Well, I didn't say it wasn't going to hurt," Sasuke countered in the same tone.

Ana smirked back up at him and pecked him on the lips.

"Hit me with your best shot, Sasuke."

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"There's something going on in there, and the only thing I want to know is who started it."

"What kind of stuff?" Sakura asked, completely naïve from her place beside Naruto at the wooden table.

"You know…stuff stuff," Naruto answered the pink haired girl as he smirked suggestively.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"How do you know?"

Naruto stared at Sakura unbelievably.

"What? You didn't hear that?"

Sakura shook her head.

"I heard it," Maria cut in from beside Gaara on the couch. She had her eyebrows raised, and was looking quite interested.

Gaara nodded in agreement.

"What didn't I hear?" Sakura demanded.

"Like the loudest moan ever!" Naruto explained melodramatically. "And it sounded like Ana…"

The blonde stared at the closed door that led to Sasuke's room. The way he was looking at the door you could tell he was trying hard to come up with some sort of plan.

Sakura noticed this.

"Leave them alone," she warned, trying to rid off any forming ideas in his head.

But it was too late.

Naruto glance at Sakura, then back at the closed door. An evil smile spread across his face. He suddenly jumped up and ran to the door, putting his ear against it.

Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Naruto!"

"Sakura, shush," the blonde whispered back loudly, "I'm trying to figure out who started this so I can finally win this bet."

"Not by listening in on them, your not!" Sakura hissed at her master. She stomped over to him and grabbed him roughly by the ear.

"You going to leave them alone," she demanded, dragging Naruto away and to his room where she shoved him inside.

"Yes, mother," came Naruto's grumbled, sarcastic reply.

Sakura turned her head around to smile pleasantly at Maria and Gaara who were still seated on the couch. Both had amused looks on their faces.

"Night guys," she said sweetly before disappearing inside Naruto's room and closing the door behind her.

Maria laughed at both of her friends, knowing that they would probably never get along.

Finally she sighed and turned to Gaara.

"I guess I should probably get to bed too," she said, and reached down under the couch to grab the pillows and blankets that had recently been stashed under there for anyone wishing to sleep on the couch.

Maria stuck her hand under the couch and groped around for the rough materials she was looking for. All her hand found was air.

She looked back up at Gaara with a puzzled stare.

"I have them," came his reply.

Maria sat back up.

"Where?" she asked. She didn't remember seeing them.

Gaara reached over his side of the couch and picked up a pillow and a blanket and brought them on to his lap.

"Sleep I my room," he ordered firmly, "I'll sleep on the couch."

Maria stared at him, completely surprised. Gaara was openly being nice…sort of?

"Really?"

"It's fine," he answered roughly. "You need a good sleep before tomorrow."

Even if Gaara acted like he was PMS-ing all the time, Maria realized then that he still took good care of her. Sometimes it was just hard to tell.

Maria smiled.

"Look, uh…thanks," she said sincerely.

Her eyes looked at him, and she saw that he wasn't looking at her or even looked like he was paying any attention, but she knew he was listening.

"Not just for this," she continued, "but for everything."

Then Maria did something bold. She slowly reached out to Gaara's hand that was placed on his knee, wanting to hold it, touch it, brush it…anything to show her gratitude for him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gaara saw her hand inching it's way towards his. On instinct he jerked it away right then she was inches from his skin.

Maria smiled slightly; that was expected.

Maria also pulled her own hand back. She looked down at it. She really didn't feel disappointed or anything; she already knew Gaara wasn't really the touchy-feely type. She knew it was going to take some time.

Maria pulled herself up off of Gaara's bed and headed for his room.

"Thanks again," she smiled warmly back, not even looking like she was fazed by Gaara's rejection.

The red head didn't say anything. He just watched her go and finally disappear into his room.

After she had gone, Gaara looked down at his hand before he started making his bed. A part of him wishing he hadn't pulled away from her.

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OK. That took forever to write so I'm sorry it took so long.

I will try to update as soon as I can which would be after I update Just Wanna Be Me….but you guys know me and my lazyness….so who knows how long it will be?

I blame some on my laziness and some on school and sports, which take up so much of my free time.

**But (hallelujah!) summer's around the corner and that means NO SCHOOL FOR 3 MONTHS!! **

**WOOT WOOT**

L8ter g8ters! (hahaha)

-rayluva4


	13. Survival of the Fittest

Hey guys! Here we are: the last chapter of Gladiators. I really hope you enjoy it because it was fun to write, but it took forever (this chapter was 41 pages!) I really hope you liked the story as a whole too!

Anyway, just a little warning about this chapter…I think it's kinda graphic and a bit gory, but that's just my opinion and it's also part of the reason why it's rated M. But I thought I'd tell you anyway.

Also I did something a little different for this chapter: I played around a lot with different points of view so that you'd get a better look at the battle from all angles and everything that's going. Hopefully it's not too confusing because I've never done this before…

**KidManga** – You're right, I did make this story really Sasuke-Ana centric…I got a little carried away, which is totally my fault. But I hope what I did with this chapter by playing around with everyone's point of view will make up for it…I think it makes the battle scenes more interesting if you ask me…but thank you for your honest review, it helps.

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_Even if Gaara acted like he was PMS-ing all the time, Maria realized then that he still took good care of her. Sometimes it was just hard to tell._

_Maria smiled._

_"Look, uh…thanks," she said sincerely._

_Her eyes looked at him, and she saw that he wasn't looking at her or even looked like he was paying any attention, but she knew he was listening._

_"Not just for this," she continued, "but for everything."_

_Then Maria did something bold. She slowly reached out to Gaara's hand that was placed on his knee, wanting to hold it, touch it, brush it…anything to show her gratitude for him._

_Out of the corner of his eye, Gaara saw her hand inching it's way towards his. On instinct he jerked it away right then she was inches from his skin._

_Maria smiled slightly; that was expected_.

_Maria also pulled her own hand back. She looked down at it. She really didn't feel disappointed or anything; she already knew Gaara wasn't really the touchy-feely type. She knew it was going to take some time._

_Maria pulled herself up off of Gaara's bed and headed for his room._

_"Thanks again," she smiled warmly back, not even looking like she was fazed by Gaara's rejection._

_The red head didn't say anything. He just watched her go and finally disappear into his room._

_After she had gone, Gaara looked down at his hand before he started making his bed. A part of him wishing he hadn't pulled away from her._

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**Chapter 13: Survival of the Fittest **

Something was off. She knew it as she sat on the edge of Gaara's bed, alone in the dark room.

First, she had woken up on her own, which _never_ happened.

Second, she was feeling oddly well rested. Also_, never_ happened.

And third, it was absolutely silent. She could hear none of the usual morning noises coming form outside the bedroom door.

Maria picked herself up, rubbed a bit of sleep out of the corner of her right eye, and then walked to the closed door before opening it to the living room.

It was strangely quiet in there too.

The bathroom door was open and vacant and no one was seated on either the couch or the table. Lights weren't even burning in the living room yet.

It was then that as Maria's eyes scanned over the quiet living room, she noticed the sleeping shape of her master on the couch. The room wasn't completely empty.

She then remembered that today was the gladiator fights. That meant that the boys didn't have training, and her fight with the rest of the girls must be later, hence the reason no one was up yet.

_Well,_ Maria thought_, it was a nice change to sleep in for once_.

She then absently questioned herself on the time.

Finally, Maria shrugged and decided she was going to take advantage of being the first one up, starting with using the bathroom first.

She went back into Gaara's room to grab her gladiator uniform and came back out into the living room.

She silently passed Gaara, sleeping peacefully on the couch, and couldn't help but stop to admire the serenity on his face when he slept. It was so rare to see Gaara like that, and she enjoyed how cute he looked when he wasn't glaring at people.

She sighed and continued to pass him and into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

When she had first arrived here, Maria remembered discussing the boys with Ana and Sakura. Ana was the only one of them that had said she couldn't stand Sasuke and didn't think she would ever like him, but look at them now! If Ana could turn around from saying that and get Sasuke to act a little more human, then Maria could do it to Gaara too.

Last night was a good start. She had told him how thankful she was – because Gaara was far from being a bad person. He was just a little selective and private sometimes…and _ok,_ grumpy too – and his little act of rejection when she tried to touch his hand wasn't going to stop her either.

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When Maria had finished bathing and getting ready for the day, she stepped out of the bathroom and was surprised at how much changed.

At the most she had only been in the bathroom for a half an hour, but outside in the living room it looked like a new day since she had disappeared.

All the torches around the living room on the walls had been lit, making it almost too bright in the room, and everyone seemed to be up and moving around…well, everyone but Ana and Sasuke. Maria noticed right away that their bedroom door was still closed.

And of course, even though it was minus too people, it was extremely noisy in the small living room. And it wasn't Gaara, who was sitting on the couch viscously sharpening a spearhead and looking like he was going to run someone through with the weapon, but it was Naruto and Sakura that were making all the noise as they argued over something or another.

The argument came to a sudden stop though when Naruto realized Maria had come out of the bathroom.

"Finally! Jeez, it took you _forever_," the blonde complained, and without another word dashed passed Maria and into the bathroom before anyone else could beat him there.

"Excuse me, your highness," Maria grumbled sarcastically, which caused Sakura to loose the previous scowl on her face, courtesy of Naruto, and giggle.

Once the pink haired girl had stopped laughing, she looked at Maria and pointed over to the wooden table, which Maria now saw had plates stacked with food on them.

"I was able to get enough food for everyone this morning," she explained looking like she was in a better mood now that she had had a good laugh and forgotten about her blonde master.

"For the emperor's birthday they had extra food up in the kitchen and let everyone take as much as they wanted…I took two trips."

Sakura smiled pleasantly at Maria. She looked well rested as well.

"Has anyone tried to get Sasuke and Ana up yet?" Maria addressed Sakura first then looked toward Gaara to show she was asking him too.

Sakura was the only one to responded though and she shook her head.

"To tell you the truth, I'm a little afraid to open that door…" she confessed making a face.

"Well, they need to come down from cloud nine some time," Maria replied as she walked over to the only closed bedroom door and lifted her closed fist up to knock firmly on the wood.

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"I have a question…." She started as she snuggled her body tighter against Sasuke's.

As she wiggled into him, her feet caught the end of the bed sheet that was covering her lower half and she accidentally pulled it down a little.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at the way she was smirking when she said that. He noticed that she had pulled some of the sheet down, so he reached over and pulled it back up to her waist, put his arms back around her so that he was cradling her body again, and looked back at her curiously.

Ana fought back her smile, but failed.

"How the heck did you grow that thing?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, I mean, Zabuza is so much bigger then you body wise, but your's…" she said as she looked downward towards his covered waist, "….is defiantly bigger then his."

Sasuke snorted.

"Have you ever thought that maybe Zabuza is just small?" he suggested, "I could just be average."

"I don't know…" Ana replied uncertainly as she bit her lip.

"How the hell would you know what's normal and what's not?" Sasuke asked, slightly bothered now, "how many have you seen?"

Ana shrugged smiling widely, her eyes playful.

Sasuke looked at her with accusing eyes.

"Your mocking me aren't you…"

Ana shrugged at him, giving him the same look.

"Well, you defiantly weren't mocking me last night," Sasuke stated smugly, ready to turn this conversation around. "If I remember correctly, you seemed to really enjoy yourself…. exactly how many times did you _demand_ to do it?"

Ana pulled away from him slightly to sit up on her elbow, which was a much easier arguing position.

"Uh, _you_ 'demanded' like six times," she corrected, "_I_ only started it like two times."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Try five."

"Whatever, it was two."

"No, I remember you jumping on top of me wanting to try something different at _least_ five out of six times."

Ana shook her head and opened her mouth to retort, but a firm knock on their closed bedroom door interrupted her.

"_You two need to get your asses up_," the voice said through the door. Ana could tell it was Maria, and she had a feeling she was smiling too by the tone of her voice.

"_Sakura brought down enough breakfast for everyone and it's time for Ana to get ready with me. I would come in there and get you up, because I don't really know if your even listening to me or not, but I really don't want my eyes melting, so I'm giving you three minutes before I come back."_

Ana laughed.

"We hear ya, Maria," she called.

"_Good, but you still have three minutes_."

After Maria had gone, Ana turned her eyes back to Sasuke and sighed.

"Reality was sure to come bit me in the ass some time," she said rolling her eyes, "I better get up and get ready for this stupid fight…"

Ana removed herself from Sasuke's arms, sat up and moved to step out of the small bed her and the dark haired man had shared.

Sasuke suddenly reached out his hand and snatched her wrist and pulled her back down on top of him. He then rolled over so that she was pinned under him.

"A lot can happen in three minutes," he said, his voice coming out low and seductive.

Before Ana could object, his mouth moved to her neck and collar bone, while one of his hands reached under the covers he had caused to fall on her when he rolled on top of her, and ran it up her naked thigh all the way to her butt.

Ana moaned happily as she arched her body into his, already feeling his erection pushing against her. If only that damn sheet wasn't in the way.

Another knock came pounding on the door.

"_Time's up_," Maria replied, "_do I have to come in there…?"_

In the background Sasuke and Ana could barley hear Naruto:

_" –What's going on? Why won't you go in there? – "_

"W-we're coming," Ana managed to choke out as her heated body slowly started to calm down. She then looked up at Sasuke who still was on top of her.

"Alright, fun's over," she sighed.

Sasuke glared back at her, still not moving.

"Why do we have to go by their schedule," he grumbled.

"In case you've forgotten Sasuke, I have a battle to fight very soon."

"I didn't forget," he replied as he leaned back down and continued kissing her neck.

Ana sighed. As much as she didn't want to leave Sasuke or the wonderful feelings she was having in his bed, she knew she had to come back to the real world. She had to fight this battle today.

Reluctantly she gently pushed against Sasuke's chest.

"Really, Sasuke, common…"

Sasuke scowled and rolled off Ana with a grumpy huff.

Ana, ignoring Sasuke's attitude, finally got up out of the bed, and hurriedly walked around the room picking up her fallen clothes and putting them on as she went.

Sasuke watched with disappointment as Ana pulled her clothes from last night back on and went to the door.

She looked back at him still lying on his bed with a sudden smile.

"If you hurry up maybe I'll wait for you before I get into the bath…" and with that said she opened the door and left Sasuke to his thoughts, which were already starting to spin out of control at her suggestion.

As soon as the door was shut behind her, Sasuke started cursing to himself.

_…When did I ever let her have this much control over me?_

He quickly got up, slipped on some pants, and walked out the door.

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"So what happened last night, who caved!"

"How do you know anything happened?" Ana asked, suddenly feeling Sasuke's presence come out the door behind her and put an arm around her waist.

"Simple, my friend: noises. Loud ones," Naruto stated smugly.

Sasuke snorted as he remembered Ana's loud outburst last night at the beginning of their fooling around and guessed that was what the blonde was referring too. He glanced at Ana who nudged him hard with her elbow.

"So," Naruto whined, starting to get impatient, "who started it?"

Maria, Sakura and even Gaara, who were all eating their breakfasts at the table, curiously looked at Ana and Sasuke, wanting to know who finally gave in.

Sasuke and Ana both glanced at each other and smiled.

"We both agreed at the same time," Ana answered.

Naruto's mouth fell open.

"What…but you can't…that's not fair!"

Ana shrugged, took Sasuke's hand, and led him passed Naruto to the bathroom.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Naruto objected, waving his arms around wildly.

"Shut up dobe," Sasuke said, when he turned around to look at his blonde friend over his shoulder, "it's none of your business anyway."

Sasuke then disappeared with Ana inside the bathroom, and the door was shut and locked behind them.

Maria huffed grumpily and crossed her arms.

"I don't think I'll be taking a bath anytime soon…"

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It was oddly quiet as she walked down the long dim, dirt hallway. She clearly remembered the last time the faint noises of male gladiators clanking weapons together and rowdy behavior floating through the corridor from the crowded room behind the door at the end of the hallway. Why couldn't she hear that now? She could see the heavy wooden door ahead that would lead into the prep room before you went into the Coliseum, but she could hear no noises.

The pink haired girl looked to her five friends walking in front of her too see if maybe one of them had noticed. All of them just walked on sullenly. Maria and Ana were whispering to each other in front of the group while Gaara and Sasuke followed behind them carrying their large bags of weapons over their shoulders. Naruto contently walked behind the other boys and slightly in front of her, a small carefree grin plastered on his face, looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

No one seemed to notice the lack of noise but her, or maybe they were just good at hiding it? Well, the silence was really starting to bother her, even if no one else seemed to care.

Or maybe she was just paranoid. If that was the case, she blamed it on her friends and the fact that they were moments away from possibly _dying_…but nope, no one else seemed to realize or care about that either.

What? Did she not get the memo? Everyone should just pretend none of this is happening and let reality come and bit you in the ass later?

Yeah, that sounded really helpful.

She wanted to say something…should she say anything?

What she really wanted to do was scream and yell at Ana and Maria and forbid them from going those doors into the arena, because what would she do if something happened to them? Stay with the boys by herself? Sakura knew she would go insane without some female company in the rooms.

She sighed. Life was so completely unfair sometimes because she knew yelling at her friends wasn't going to change or help anything. It wasn't like it was their fault or like they could just back out.

Sakura was just mad was all. Mad at the stupid school and mad at the emperor for having a birthday because if not for him there would be no 'special events' going on today. But mostly she was mad at the _lanista_ for dragging her friends into all this. Why didn't he get his greedy, lazy ass up and fight and risk his life instead? Sakura had a feeling that would be a lot more entertaining then watching her friends risk their lives.

But before she knew it, her friends were already passing through the door and she was looking at Naruto holding the door open for her with that same carefree look on his face.

Sakura muttered a quiet 'thank you' as she passed her blonde master and entered the gladiator prep room.

Before, this room had been a lively, loud place filled with noisy bloodthirsty gladiators waiting for their battles to begin. But now Sakura really understood why it had been such a quiet trip over here.

The room was completely deserted, only forgotten weapons and armor and group 40 occupied the space now.

"Where is everyone?" Sakura asked Naruto as he closed the door they had just all come in and walked up behind her.

"Ana, Maria and the other girls must be the last event before the two hour break. The rest of the fights will be later," he answered.

Sasuke and Gaara threw down their bags of weapons, opened them, and started digging around in them.

"Wow," Ana suddenly replied in awe as she slowly walked over to the large double wooden doors to the right that led into the arena, "it sounds like so many people." The light coming in from the cracks in the doors played off her face and clothes in long skinny strips as she got closer.

Now that Sakura was really paying attention she realized it wasn't as quiet as she first thought and defiantly not as quiet as the hallway had been. She could hear now the roar of the crowd just outside in the arena, and Ana was right, it did sound like a lot of people.

"You don't even notice once your fighting," Maria assured her white haired friend, not wanting her to feel too nervous before they got out there. Maria herself was trying not to even think too much about it or she might start feeling nervous too, and it wouldn't do any of the girls any good if they were all really nervous.

Gaara suddenly shoved a large sharp spear in her hand and a shield.

"Your main weapons," he said. Then he gave her a sword and a belt to tie to her waist for it, which Maria did, and then a holder to tie around her leg to put knives in.

"Those should be your last resort, if somehow someone gets to close."

Maria nodded as she secured the holder around her thigh and placed the smaller weapons in it.

"Ana, get over here," Sasuke suddenly ordered.

Ana turned and glared at Sasuke and his attitude, but obeyed anyway and walked over to him.

Sasuke handed her two swords to go on a belt on each side around her waist and then a shield. He reached out and secured one holder filled with small long needles around her upper thigh and one filled with knives around the other.

Sakura, who had been watching all this with a heavy heart, turned away embarrassed when Sasuke had finished with securing Ana's weapons and started kissing her in different places on her thigh. Her white haired friend was giggling in response.

Fortunately for Sakura, who was starting to feel uncomfortable, the hallway door behind her suddenly opened, and Group 14 walked in.

Maria looked up from the knife holder she had been adjusting on her leg and smiled warmly.

"Hey guys," she greeted.

Ana stopped giggling when she saw more people entering the room and gently pushed Sasuke off of her. The dark haired boy reluctantly stood up and scowled at the newcomers.

Ana also smiled and greeted her friends.

Ino, Mira and Siyra all grinned and said hello.

"What's up guys!" Kiba exclaimed with a bright smile on his face, then looked to Maria and Ana, "You girls ready to kick some ass?"

Sakura raised and eyebrow. Kiba didn't look even the least bit worried about the fight.

Maria smiled back, "Yeah, I'm ready," she answered, then looked at Ino, Mira and Siyra, "what about you guys?"

The girls nodded.

"Please Maria, I was born ready," Ino replied smugly as she walked over to Shikamaru, who had their bag of weapons and started rummaging through it excitedly.

Maria laughed and went back to adjusting the weapon holder on her leg.

"Jesus woman, would you clam down," Shikamaru complained as she started throwing random weapons out looking for her own.

Mira and Siyra followed her lead and went to Neji and Kiba to take the bags from them and look for their own weapons, only a little less vigorously then Ino.

"Why was I paired with her…" Shikamaru muttered.

"You _picked_ me remember, oh strong and awesome master," Ino countered sarcastically, while Naruto went over to him and put a friendly arm around him.

"You know what they say Shika, opposites attract," the blonde boy replied.

"Yeah, unfortunately…"

Kiba suddenly walked over to Naruto and Shikamaru after he had made sure Siyra got all her weapons.

"So…" he whispered to Naruto, "did you ever find out who won the bet?"

"No, they said they decided together, the little shitheads," the blonde answered.

"What! Well that's not fair," Kiba exclaimed, disappointment written all over his face. He walked away from Naruto and Shikamaru and went back over to Siyra who was having trouble tying a knife holder around on of her arms.

"Obviously you guys don't understand the meaning of a bet," Kiba glared as he passed Ana and Sasuke who had been talking amongst themselves a second ago and now turned their attention to the dog looking boy, "because in a _bet_, someone always _wins_ and gets _money…"_

Ana rolled her eyes, while Sasuke glared right back.

"Yeah! I agree with him, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, sorry about your bad luck," Ana answered dryly.

Neji and Mira, who had been done getting ready for a couple minutes now, looked over at Ino who was still struggling to find all her weapons.

Mira quirked an eyebrow.

"Aren't you ready yet?" she asked. After getting ready, Mira now supported a couple holders around her legs with sharp looking metal things in them shaped like stars and some daggers, a shield and a tall, impressive looking spear in her right hand.

"I can't find a damn thing because Shika always puts his stuff on top and mine's all down at the bottom!" Ino whined then suddenly her face it up and she pulled out and thick, sharp looking sword.

"Ah-ha!" she grinned triumphantly, "One down!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and looked around the room to see that everyone else's girls had their weapons secured around them and was ready to go but his girl.

"Move Ino," he said as he gently pushed her out of the way and starting looking through the bag.

Ino faked a happy grin.

"How sweet, Shika…" she replied sarcastically, "…it took you long enough."

Shikamaru ignored her as he started pulling out all her weapons and throwing them down next to her, while she picked them up and stared putting them on.

A couple minutes later, Shikamaru stood up, brushed his knees off and turned to Ino to see if she needed any help getting her weapons on. He was surprised to see that she already had a sword around her waist, knives in holders around on of her legs and arms, a shield in one hand, and a spear in the other.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as she smiled sweetly at him.

"Troublesome…"

Suddenly the door to the hallway opened up again, and Temari and Kin walked in followed by Zabuza and Orochimaru.

Already Kin and Temari had all of their gear on and as soon as they entered the room and spotted Ana and Maria, scowls formed on their faces.

Maria glared back, ready to take them, but Gaara stepped slightly in front of her.

Ana on the other hand made a face when she saw Kin and Temari but as soon as she saw Zabuza her face fell and her mouth set into a grim line.

As soon as Zabuza spotted Ana, a nasty grin couldn't help but force it's way onto his lips, and he snapped his eyes over to look at her, playing all kinds of emotions at her, causing Ana to remember her time in his room.

Sasuke noticed that Zabuza was starting intensely at Ana, and his stepped protectively in front of her. Now Zabuza had no choice but to look at Sasuke who was giving him a cold, hate filled glare.

Zabuza just grinned in response.

Tension settled thick in the air as the four people who had just walked and in the four people from group 40 glared at each other. Even Akamaru, who was sitting on Kiba's shoulder, stated to whine quietly and then went to hide behind his master's head.

The door to the hallway opened and closed again and Alexandria and Tenten walked in.

As the two walked passed Orochimaru and his group, Alexandria reached the bow up she was carrying and gave the back of Temari's head, which was closest to her, a good whack with the wooden part of her bow.

"Cut it out, we're about to battle together, and all you guys want to do is fight amongst yourselves," Rhea scolded with an amused smirk on her thin pale lips.

Tenten laughed loudly at her bright haired friend and Temari whipped her head around to shift her glare at them.

"What the fuck," the blonde hissed, instinctively putting a hand to the back of her head where she was hit.

Rhea shrugged carelessly while Tenten threw a large weapon bag she had been carrying to the ground with heavy _thud_ and a thousand _clanks_.

Sakura's found her green eyes widening. Did she know these girls and what could the brown haired one possibly have in that bag that would make that big a noise?

Sakura shuffled over to Maria who was the closest to her and leaned toward her ear.

"Who are they?" she whispered as the brown haired one started pulling multiple weapons and holders out of the bag.

"The ruby haired one is Alexandria and the one with brown hair is Tenten," Maria explained quietly, "they're the other two girls fighting with us."

Sakura nodded and straightened back up to observe the odd pair of girls.

The girl called Tenten was starting to put on her weapons now, while Alexandria walked over to group 14 and started talking to them.

This Alexandria girl was only holding a bow, had a quiver of arrows thrown over her shoulder, and had a sword tied around her waist. Was this all she was bringing into the Coliseum?

Sakura noticed that Temari, Kin, Orochimaru and Zabuza had all gone over in a corner and were talking quietly with each other, group 14 and Alexandria were talking to each other, and Ana, Sasuke, Gaara and Maria had all gone back together.

Sakura bit her lip and shuffled back over to Naruto, feeling left out.

Naruto happily excepted her next to him.

"You ok?" he asked lightly, smiling down at her.

Sakura sighed, "Not really, I'm still just really worried, and everyone coming in here all carefree with weapons attached to their bodies isn't helping."

She looked up into his blue eyes for some sort of comfort, but instead found something a little different. Now that she really had a chance to see Naruto's blue eyes, she saw in them a hint of doubt, or was it nervousness? Even though he smiled and acted happy like there was nothing to worry about, he couldn't hide the fact that he was too feeling a little scared for his friends.

Sakura smiled sadly and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug; she wanted to comfort him and herself. If anyone one could make her feel better it was Naruto who was like the sun itself.

It took a minute but finally the pink haired girl felt his arms snake around her body and pull her closer.

"They'll be ok, Sakura, I know it," he whispered and it sounded to her like he was mostly saying it to himself.

Sakura nodded into his chest and pulled away.

"I hope your right."

"It's probably about time for us to leave," Sakura heard Neji say somewhere behind her, and suddenly everyone was shuffling around to give hugs good bye.

Sakura saw Rhea walk back over to Tenten, who was now completely ready with holders filled with every little weapon possible around her legs and arms, a sword on each side of her wait, and spear in one hand and a shield in the other. To Sakura the little sweet looking brown haired girl now looked rather intimidating with all her weapons.

Once the guys from group 14 were done saying their goodbyes to their girls, they each waved bye to Ana and Maria.

"Good luck you two!" Kiba exclaimed over his shoulder as he waved and followed Neji and Shikamaru through the door to the hallway. Akamaru, who had come out of hiding a little while ago, barked his agreement over his master's shoulder.

"Thanks," both Maria and Ana replied with a smile.

Sakura watched with an amused grin as Naruto left her side, walked over to Ana, pushed Sasuke aside and gave his white haired friend a big bear hug.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he told her.

Ana couldn't help but smile and hug him back.

"Ok."

Sasuke glared at him as he finally let go of Ana and hugged Maria next.

"Good luck, I know you can do this."

"Thanks, Naruto," Maria replied hugging him back.

Sakura watched her blonde master with a sense of awe; already she could tell by the looks on their faces that Maria and Ana were more relaxed now.

_Only Naruto could do that_…she thought. That was just one of his talents. He was exactly like everyone's personal sun.

Since Naruto had left them alone to hug Maria, Sasuke went back to stand in front of Ana and she leaned forward and gently pecked him on the lips.

"Be here when I get back?" Sakura heard her say to him.

He nodded, and suddenly someone was clapping.

Sakura looked away and turned her attention to Zabuza who was the one making the noise. He was looking right at Sasuke and Ana, his hands smacking together, and a smirk on his face.

"Congratulations Uchiha, your first kiss…what a pussy," he laughed. "You disappoint me and I'm sure you disappoint her too. So Ana, why don't you come over here and give me a kiss and I'll show you how it's done."

Ana looked around Sasuke and opened her mouth to hiss something back but Sasuke whirled around and beat her too it.

"You touch her and I'll snap your arm in two," he growled angrily.

Zabuza stopped clapping and laughed instead at Sasuke's threat.

"I'd like to see you try, Uchiha…"

"Zabuza, common," Orochimaru ordered. He was standing in the doorway to the hall and was looking coldly at his roommate.

Sakura suddenly wondered if they always treated each other like shit.

Zabuza chuckled lightly and turned around. He walked passed Temari on his way out and smacked her ass.

"Have fun, T," he smirked.

Temari smiled darkly.

"Oh, I plan too."

Then right before he left with Orochimaru, Zabuza looked over his shoulder and if it was even possible, his smirk widened.

"You too, girls."

Sakura saw Maria roll her eyes and Ana shivered slightly, and she had a feeling she knew why too. Zabuza was creepy to begin with but it was even worse when he gave you that look and that smile, that same one he just gave the girls, the one that made it clear that he knew something you didn't.

"Why does he always seem to know something we don't," Sakura whispered to Naruto, who was standing beside her now, bitterly.

Naruto shrugged.

"He's in tight with the _lanista_," the blonde explained, "…so tight that I wouldn't be surprised if they were gay together."

Sakura made a disgusted face and looked up at Naruto to see if he was serious.

He had a smile already plastered on his face, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh. Ok, sometimes he bugged the carp outta her, other times like these, she was glad to have him next to her. It was times like these that she thought his silliness actually made him cute.

"Ok, guys we better go," Naruto said now to his roommates and Sakura.

Sasuke took Ana's head in his hands and kissed her one more time on the forehead before he picked up his weapon bag and turned around and headed for the door with Naruto while Sakura took her turn to wish her friends good luck.

"If you guys don't come back," the pink haired girl warned seriously as she finished hugging Ana and went to Maria, "just know you'll be leaving me to die as well…"

Both Ana and Maria looked at each other and rolled their eyes playfully.

"We'll try to remember that when we're running a sword through some guy out there," Ana replied sarcastically with a smile.

Maria chuckled and nodded.

Sakura let herself laugh as she walked over to the door. Once she was in the doorway next to Naruto who was waiting for her, she noticed that Gaara still wasn't with them. She turned and saw him still talking intently with Maria. Sakura caught little bits of the conversation and from that she could tell he was going over last minute strategies with her.

"You coming, Gaara?" she smiled politely at him from across the room.

Gaara finished what he was saying then turned around to nod at her.

What happened next surprised both Sakura and Naruto, who was still standing next to his pink haired servant. While Gaara was distracted, Maria took advantage of the opportunity and quickly leaned forward and boldly kissed him on his cheek.

Gaara slowly turned around to a slightly red faced Maria.

"Thanks again for everything," she said sincerely.

Gaara found himself at a loss for words so he just nodded. No emotion was visible on his face but Maria saw a couple different emotions flicker across his eyes so fast that she couldn't tell what they were, and then he was back to his emotionless self.

"Holy shit, did I just see – "

Sakura quickly put a hand over Naruto's big mouth and dragged him through the doorway and into the hallway afraid that him and his loud mouth were going to ruin the moment.

"Do you ever know when to keep that mouth of yours shut…" Sakura complained, but her words were left unheard because already Naruto was plotting out loud.

"Just wait till he gets out here…"

Meanwhile, inside the prep room, Gaara just nodded again.

"…You're welcome," he managed to say roughly.

He bent over and picked up his less heavy now bag of weapons, but hesitated a second to turn around and leave. It looked to Maria like he might say something, but in the end he must of decided against whatever he was thinking about doing because he finally turned around and left through the same doors his roommates had.

Maria could feel her nervous heart slowly start to slow down and she smiled to herself as she watched him leave. He didn't seem mad…just speechless. This was a good sign, and now she had something to look forward too after the battle.

_…I definitely can't let myself die because now I have some unfinished business with him…_

Maria was so lost in her own thoughts that she almost didn't notice the silence around her. She broke out of her daydreams and glanced around the room to see that every girl there was staring at her.

"What?" Maria asked forcefully, but already knowing it had everything to do with her and Gaara, and a little annoyed at all the eyes looking at her.

Ana was the first to answer.

"I'm going to take that as a sign of the apocalypse; maybe we can actually win this."

"We will win this…but only if we can all work together…that means no killing each other as soon as we step out there," Rhea lectured while looking specifically at Kin and Temari, then at Ana and Maria.

"There will probably be more of them and they will no doubt be physically stronger but if we work as a team we can out smart and out maneuver them. They will be fighting individually…but we will be fighting as a group; that's even better," Tenten added confidently.

The rest of the girls stayed quiet as they let the information and reality of the situation in sink in; this was for real, not training anymore where you could slip up and still keep your head. It was a real battle when any minute could be your last if you weren't careful.

While everyone else was getting lost in their thoughts and getting themselves focused, Ana noticed that Mira had put her hair up into a bun to keep it out of her face and that a piece of cloth was tied to hold it up. Ana thought it was a good idea and quietly ripped off a sliver of cloth from the bottom of her own skirt, messily braided her long hair back, and tied it at the end with the piece of cloth. Maria saw and also did the same only put her hair into a ponytail instead.

Suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and the large double doors that lead into the arena slowly started to open and light from the outside poured inside the dimly lit prep room. The noise from the spectators somehow seemed to get louder too as the doors opened until every girl could almost feel her ears ringing.

Maria put on a brave face and looked to all the girls around her.

"Here we go then," she said and step toward the light.

Ana, Ino, Mira, Siyra Rhea, Tenten, Kin, and Temari all followed, their muscles all ready becoming tense and alert as they walked forward and light and sound engulfed them.

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**_Ino's POV_**

It's too loud, they're making my ears hurt, is my first thought as my eyes start to adjust to the sunlight and I see row after concrete row of people packed tightly above me inside the Coliseum.

I take a deep breath to calm myself, because for some reason I'm feeling oddly nervous, and follow the rest of the girls as we make our way to the center of the arena.

I notice too as we walk that it's unbearably hot and I'm already starting to sweat.

Gross.

Hopefully the sun doesn't bleach out my hair. Wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake.

Finally we all make it to the center, we stand strong together in our group, and everyone, including myself, grips their weapons tighter, ready for any surprises that might be thrown at us to indicate the battle has started.

But noting happens for a long time. The crowd keeps cheering too loudly, the sun is still beating down on us, and the dry dirt is already covering my feet and legs in a thick dust. But still nothing happens.

"Stay alert, ladies," I hear Rhea's warning to my left, "you never know what these bastards will pull…"

She's right, and I look around to see that I'm not the only one to think that. Everyone's muscles have tightened and their bodies stand even more tense, ready to dodge or pounce at any minute. We're in our own world now despite the activity and noise above us in the stands. From the top of the pit we're in, to the dirt below us is our own place now, and for us it is all that exists. Suddenly to us, everything is quiet and all that matters is our beating hearts and the weapons in our hands.

The suddenly a pair of double doors on the other end of the arena opens and male gladiators clad with weapons and shields and some with helmets invade our world.

Twenty, maybe twenty-five, come in a line and surround our little group and we pull in tighter together. But even though they are intimating, we can let out a sigh of relief because now we know where they are and there will be no surprises, which is the worst thing to have in a battle: something you don't expect, something your not ready for.

But then, if that wasn't enough enemies, five more in their own single horse drawn chariots come parading in behind the men on the ground and begin circling around us.

And of course the crowd and their cheering gets louder and there's a loud bang as the doors the men have just come out of shut and now we are completely trapped inside this pit of hell and the only way out is for us nine girls to kill about twenty-five men.

The game has started.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Temari and Kin start making their way away from the group, weapons raised.

"Stay together," I snap at them. Of course they would be the ones to think that they could take all the men on by themselves. But there are defiantly too many of them and I know we have to stay together and be smart to even have a chance of getting out of this alive.

I scan over all the men on the ground and then the ones riding in chariots.

What would Shikamaru and his lazy ass do?

Well, first he would want those chariots taken out, since the men have a better advantage while they're riding in them.

"Those chariots need to go," I say to the girls around me.

"I'm on it."

I look over and see Rhea already starting to load her bow. Her arm muscles strain and tense against the bow's resistance and finally she releases the arrow and it flies passed all the men, and as one of the horses are moving, the arrow hits it right in the neck and it topples over sending the chariot and the man inside it flying.

Despite our situation I can't help but let out a low whistle.

"Nice shot," I say impressed as I watch the heavy wooden chariot conveniently crush the man that is riding in it.

Rhea shrugs and a smug smiles spreads across her face.

Kin snorts.

"That's great and all," she says rolling her eyes and motioning ahead, "but now what do we do?"

I follow her gaze to see what she was talking about.

Oh shit.

Three chariot men just pulled out bows and arrows and now are pulling back aiming right at us.

Fortunately, once it's released it misses our group but barley, and now all the rest of the chariot men are pulling out bows and loading up again.

I quickly hold my shield in front of my head and scoot closer to everyone.

"Let's make a barrier, quick!"

Thank god they all knew what I was talking about and in the next three seconds we had made a small circle while holding our shields up so that now we are all safe and trapped inside a large barrier made of shields. Barely any light is coming in; that's how close our bodies and shields are to each other.

To cover us from arrows coming in from the top, Rhea is crouched in the middle holding her shield above her head creating a roof for us.

We felt and heard sharp _thuds_ as the dozens of arrows that would have been through our bodies hit our shields instead.

"Good thinking," Siyra chuckles uneasily, trying to shake off the fact that we almost got pelted with arrows.

Another round of sharp _thuds_ are heard hitting our make-shift barrier from all sides.

We all wait in silence, our muscles straining against the weight of our shields as we wait for the next round of arrows, but moments pass and we hear none being shot at us.

I shift my shield a little to the side away from Mira's who is holding hers next to mine so that there is a tiny hole I could peak out of.

My brain suddenly starts whirling as it tries to figure out what we should do next because now the men from the chariots have stopped shooting at us but only because now the men on the ground are getting closer to us. When I look out I see them cautiously coming towards us with their weapons raised.

"What's going on out there?" Mira asks me.

I hesitate,

"The men on the ground are getting closer to us."

"_What?"_

"Fuck," I heard Rhea curse. I then hear her as she tries to move around.

"If somebody could just take my place real quick…I'll run their heads through with some arrows…they'll think twice before getting any closer…"

"Here, I'll switch you…" It was Tenten's voice, then the only noise is Rhea moving over and Tenten squatting down with Rhea's shield over her head in Rhea's place. With Tenten gone from her original spot, all the rest of us girls covering the sides have to shift in closer and over to cover her space. We do it so quickly that the gladiators outside our barrier don't have a chance to attack our temporary weak spot with anything.

Even though we are now packed in tighter, and there is barely any room to move much, let alone pull out an arrow and load a bow, somehow Rhea still manages to do it. And now she's squatting in between Ana and Maria with the tip of her arrow barley pointing through the small whole the two girls have made between their shields for her to shoot.

I crane my neck and look over my shoulder to see Rhea as she pulls the bow string back and aims, and that's when something pops up in my mind.

"Instead of aiming for the men on the ground aim for the chariots again," I say, "they won't be as easy to kill if they're riding, and the gladiators on the ground we can handle."

Rhea seems to think it over for a split second before nodding.

"Ok."

And again she aims only this time it's for a different target.

Almost as soon as she lets go of the arrow I hear the whining of an animal and then the crash of another chariot.

I smirk. Shika would be proud of my brain and me today. I told him I could be as smart as him…actually I'm probably smarter.

Ana and Maria quickly pull their shields back together as another onslaught of arrows comes.

Once the arrows stop coming and I peak again and see the men coming at us again, Rhea switches places and this time shoots her arrow from between Kin and Temari.

We can hear as another chariot crashes and this is how it went until all the rest of the chariots were out, and even some of the men coming at us. But now Rhea is out of arrows and the men left on the ground are closer then ever.

"I guess now we finally get to fight," Maria says.

"Just wait a little bit longer," I say, and I can feel that this is right; we're doing well, "…until their right up on us and ready to attack."

Temari and Kin grumble their impatience but everyone else seems to trust me on this and they stay put. The only thing that moves are their grips on their shields as they get tighter and their other hands that go to their main weapons to get ready.

As for myself, I can feel more adrenaline pump through my veins, speeding my heart up and making my muscles tense and ready for when I decide to pounce. I grab the sword that's been tied around my waist and hold it at my side at the ready.

We all watch through tiny holes as our enemies get closer to our barrier.

And when they are just about on top of us, without ever saying anything, we all know it's time.

Almost exactly at the same time we all lift free from our shielded safety, spring up with our weapons ready, and attack.

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**_Tenten's POV_**

I already have my target, and once everyone has shot up from our barrier and moved to their targets, I do too.

I kept my shield on my left hand, and with my right I throw the multiple weapons I have already prepared at the target.

He is surprised at the sudden explosion of our shielded cave and even more caught off guard when suddenly I have thrown myself out of the group and attacked him.

He has no chance to attack me before he is dead with five different types of small weapons wedged into his torso.

He hadn't even known what hit him.

I don't have to wait long for something else to do because out of the corner of my eye I see my next two targets charging at me.One of them is a little faster than the other and is in front with a long spear pointed right at me, and the other one has a sword ready.

I quickly look around …I know my spear is around hear somewhere…Ah-ha! There it is. I dash over to my right were my discarded weapon lay. I knew I had thrown it down somewhere in my hasty attempt to do my part and create one side of the barrier before we all got pelted with arrows earlier. Lucky for me no one had grabbed it yet.

I swing myself around now once I have the spear firmly in my hand and my targets are almost in reaching distance. I let the first one with the spear have his move before me.

He points the spear right at my heart and charges with his full strength right at me, his shield raised slightly at his side for any sudden attacks I might throw at him.

Before he can hit me, I use the tip of my own spear to parry his away from my body and since the sharp tip was busy blocking his, I use the end and I knock him in the side of the face. He stagers back and if it wasn't for the heavy shield he was holding he might not have been off balance and fall backward, but he did.

If it wasn't for target number two I would have finished him off, but that small fight had given target two a chance to get to the fight and now, almost before I can even turn around to protect myself, he is swinging his sword at me.

I block multiple times with my shield that is still in my left hand, but I wasn't getting any of my own swings in, he was giving me no choice but to block and dodge.

Next thing I know, I'm on the ground. Target number one has come from behind and kicked my legs out from under me. If I was him I would have just killed me then, but I'm guessing they want to have a little fun first.

And that's a mistake they will pay for. Because now I have another chance.

But before I can do anything, target one comes down with his spear first and I use my shield to protect myself, but he keeps pushing down on it. Then if that wasn't already enough, target two comes down with his sword.

Ok this is it, I'm going to die here, I know I am…but _wait_, I see my second chance.

Because target two makes the mistake of coming down on me with his sword tip raised and the length of it coming down. This is easier to block then if he would have come down with his tip first.

With my left hand and shield still fighting against target one, my right hand and my sword that's still in it block target two's sword about a foot from my body.

And now I'm fighting against two strengths on each side.

And already my arms are starting to buckle under their force. I try to push harder; I can't let them kill me.

And just by instinct, without even thinking about it, my right leg comes up and I'm kicking target two in the side hard, sending him toppling over target one.

I only have a few seconds to get up and jump away from them before they're up as well looking angrier then ever.

Ugh. My arms feel like jelly. They're exhausted and now I can barely move them…_fuck_.

But they're coming after me and I'm lifting my arms anyway, fighting against my own body and the gladiators.

Concentrate. You can do this. _Focus_.

And suddenly I am.

It's as if my whole life I have been practicing this dance, and now without even thinking about it, I have the ability to kill several men in a series of sly and complicated thrusts, swings, and throws with my weapons.

My body knows all the steps by heart, as if I'm especially made for this. Made to fight.

I know I can survive this.

I am running at them now and I drop my shield – a risky move, yes – but I know it's right. With my now free hand I snatch several small weapons from my holders, and while I'm still a couple feet from them I throw the small weapons.

In mid-run, target one falls to the ground dead. My weapons have gone through his chest and head.

Target two lets out an angry shout and keeps running at me, looking more determined then ever.

But I'm concentrating. I'm calm. I'm focused.

And I'm dancing those sly trusts and complicated swings, and I'm maneuvering around his every counter attack, until he is also dead.

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**_Siyra's POV_ **

I had thrown away my shield a long time ago – maybe that's where I went wrong – but I needed both hands for my two swords.

This is how I fight – always offensive – but now I'm starting to regret not being able to go defensive with my shield.

Another male gladiators comes to attack me with his sword. He swings and I block with both my swords up and I hear the sound of our metal weapons clash and scrape together. Before he even has time to blink, I let up on strength against his sword, and with a fluid swipe of my swords, I cut him across his side.

He yells out in pain and I take a few steps back to rest.

Ok, yes, I'm tired. Exhausted actually, but I have a right to be, because how many gladiators had I went through now? It's only maybe been fifteen minutes since we broke out of our shield barrier, but as soon as we did I was _ready_. I sped through five gladiators in like four minutes.

I've been on some kinda high ever since we started, but now I can feel myself slowing down as my energy slowly drains from my body.

So, I had missed what I wanted to hit on the man I was fighting just now, but I felt I wasn't at the right angle to get a good hit in, and if I would have tried, it may have ended with consequences for me.

Not what I really want when I'm so tired. It's better for me to just sit back a minute and observe to decided my next move then to just charge into danger unprepared.

Ya know, I don't think I really got much sleep last night…maybe that's why I'm so exhausted. And this morning in the beginning of the battle I must have just been running on excitement, nerves, and adrenaline.

But now what? What was going to keep me going now? I turn my head to either side of me and scan my surroundings and the men still left to fight…I still had a long way to go…

But I don't have any more time to think; to feel sorry for myself, to whine about my exhaustion, because the man I had just injured is over his pain now and coming right at me. It was clear in his eyes that he wanted nothing more then to run me through with his sword.

I lift my twin swords and met him half way in his run towards me, and I was the first to attack.

But he decided he was going to be smarter than last time and use his shield to block me…again…and again…and again.

Ugh. So this is how it's going to be…_great._

By body is protesting against me and my movements, but I push it forward and I keep fighting because I don't have any other choice. If I falter for even one moments, I'm dead.

I keep fighting this guy, and after five minutes of the same thing – me swinging and him blocking – my energy is completely used up. He knows the strength of my attacks are weakening, I can see it in his eyes. There's something else too…is that _hope_? Does he actually think he can _win…?_

And then he's attacking me, and my brain is putting two and two together. He knew all along I was tired, he could see it, and that was his plan…to block me until I was so tired I could barley fight back and then he attacks!

Why that _bastard_…damn him.

…You're lucky I don't have my full strength _buster_, I would tear you to shreds.

Now I'm stuck in this situation: a gladiator is swinging and attacking me with his sword mercilessly with his full force, I'm staggering backwards just trying not to let the blows knock me over as our weapons collide, and I can feel as the last of my energy is used up trying to protect myself. Nothing, not energy, oxygen or nutrients feel like their flowing to my limbs anymore. My lungs are fed up of going through the work of keeping me going and I'm starting to breathe raggedly. My knees feel boneless, like they would be ready any minute to let my lower legs telescope up through my thighs. My arms feel like they don't even exist anymore because they are so numb, and now my head feels like different sections of my brain are grinding and pushing against each other for some sort of dominance over the inside of my head.

But then, for no reason, I feel great. Amazing actually.

Like my body, until that instant, had simply been lazy.

As though the aches and pains and exhaustion were imagined, created from nothing to keep me from truly exerting myself. Now my body seemed to say, '_Fine. If you must have it, here!'_.

I have broken though some kind of mental wall, and now an accession of strength is coming, I can feel it, and its flooding through me.

The next thing I know, I'm finally fighting back. No more stumbling back, and no more just blocking.

I'm losing myself in my battle.

_Ooooh_, it's coming now buddy…

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**_Mira's POV_**

I'm trying desperately to concentrate. I want to know where I first went wrong,

It was this morning, it had to be.

I had a feeling this was coming the moment I woke up. Sometimes you just get that feeling your going to have a rotten day, or something's going to go wrong.

It's not the most pleasant thing to wake up to, I'll admit. But it's the feeling I woke up too. And damn it all it was right.

The battle started out fine. I jumped right out of that shield thing we put together, ready to go, and killed as many gladiators as I could get my spear and shurikens into…which was a lot.

But somewhere along the lines –still not sure where – something went wrong.

And now it's been almost thirty minutes since I started attacking people, and I find myself in a rather sticky situation.

So, I see that this _asshole_- this one that has me almost dangling completely off the ground with his hands around my neck – knocks Ino out and is about to run her through with a spear, so I run over to help.

And somehow – _still_ not sure how– this guy manages to knock the spear from my hand, and then my sword when I pull it out, and that's how I get to this problem of him choking the life outta me.

He's staring right at me with a disgusting smirk that makes me want so badly to puke on him, and I would but he's blocking my throat and windpipe with his hands.

So instead I start to claw viciously at his hand around my neck, and soon I can feel something slimly underneath my nails and fingertips. It's his blood no doubt. I have scratched through the skin on his hands but still he doesn't let go of me. He doesn't even look like his feeling what I'm doing.

Inside my mind, I'm raging with fury. I hate men, especially ones that have power over me, or think they do.

I force myself to gather what wetness I still have in my mouth and spit it at him.

"Fucking son of a bitch," I hiss as it hits him on the side of his face.

With his shoulder he simply wipes it off, only a mild look of annoyance on his face, which only fuels my anger more.

My feet are now fully off the ground. He has tightened his hold around me and has lifted me up a little higher.

I choke and cough as I try to get ragged breaths through my blocked windpipe.

His face is close to mine now, inches away.

And then he has the nerve to lick my cheek – again if I were able to puke I would, but at this point I don't even think I can make a disgusted face – and whisper in my ear all the nasty things he wants to do to Ino and then to me.

By now I'm staring my death in the face, black dots are starting to appear before my eyes, and my fingers and toes feel like they're going numb.

But I still know I need to do something.

The next thing I know, I'm putting enough force into my foot to kick his balls in, and maybe even into the next life, and once he's on the ground in agony and I have been dropped, I still have enough strength to reach for my spear and run it through his heart.

Once I know he's dead, I let myself take a couple moments. I breathe heavily in and out, letting my lungs take back all of what they've lost. I can even feel my fingers and toes start to come back to life, and the black holes in my vision slowly go away.

I try to think over what just happened.

Staring death in the face must have forced my mind to act on a subconscious level and harness that strength that I needed to survive.

Maybe it was the fact that I was starting to go dizzy from the lack of oxygen to my brain. Maybe it was the slime I felt as that tongue ran down the length of my cheek. Or it could have been his disgusting words as he talked about my blonde friend and I. Maybe it was all three.

I look over at his dead form. Oh well, he's gone now.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Ino stir. I get up, still breathing hard, and go over to her. I pick up my spear and sword along the way.

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**_Ana's POV_ **

I watch helplessly as a blade runs through my skin, lodging itself inside my thigh, and red liquid starts to flow. It's not until seconds later that I feel the pain.

_Fuck_, it _burns_!

Like fire has engulfed my whole leg.

I cry out painfully. Why won't the burning go away!

I force myself to look up at my attacker whose now standing over me. I try to focus against the pain and I squint my eyes to the sun's rays behind him.

I can tell that he's smirking, enjoying the power he has over me now…_fucking bastard._

It feels like the world is slowing down around me as weapons clash, the heat beats down, and finally I see him slowly reach for his second sword tied around his waist.

This is it. I'm going to die unless I do something fast.

My brain takes in my surroundings, looking for a possible escape. To the left I see Maria fighting it out with a gladiator with two swords in his hands; he's trying to chop my friend in two. To my right is Tenten throwing multiple weapons that seems to come from no where at her enemy a couple feet in front of her.

That's it. That's all I can see. The others must be somewhere behind me and probably as busy as the others.

It's just me. Me and the sword that's wedged into my throbbing leg.

But suddenly, just as I had wished my pain miraculously subsides, like my brain knows that the pain is clouding my judgements, and if my judgements are clouded in this particular situation, I will surely die.

The pain is temporarily gone and I know the only way to survive.

I violently pull at the sword in my thigh as my attacker raises his sword over his head. Just before his weapon comes down on me, I manage to pull the blade from my own body, reach up, and jam it into his chest.

The man instantly recoils and kneels over onto his side clutching his new wound and the sword in his chest, while new blood starts erupting from his mouth.

But even as I watch this man die, I'm amazed…

Somehow, in a last desperate attempt to save it's own life, my brain had subconsciously turned off my pain sensors, allowing me to think quickly and escape my death. In this happened in a span of, what? …fifteen or less seconds…?

Suddenly I feel something as it flies pass my head. An arrow maybe?

Only seconds after I hear a blood curling scream from behind me.

Pain still gone, I turn around to see Rhea lying limp on the ground.

Oh shit.

I put a hand to my chest because I can feel my heart clenching uncomfortably at the sight.

An arrow had just missed me seconds before, and now I see that same weapon pierced through Rhea's pale neck.

I have the urge to puke, but I don't.

My voice can't even find itself so that I can call out to her to see if she's ok.

I think it's because I know deep down that she's dead and screaming isn't going to help.

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**_Maria's POV_ **

Shit.

Was that Rhea screaming?

I try to turn and look but the gladiator I'm fighting takes another swing at me. I pull up my shield and block him, and while he's still close I try to spear him. He dodges and comes at me again.

I put up my shield to block myself again, fell the push and the weight of his swords, but this time the weight doesn't lift, and then I feel a yanking. He's gotten one of his swords stuck.

With all my strength I push against him and he flies backward into the ground, letting go of the sword that is stuck to my shield as he falls.

I yank his weapon from my shield and finally get a chance to turn and see if Rhea is all right.

She probably jus–

Oh god.

No, no, no, no, _no!_

I drop my spear and put a hand to my mouth. I have the sudden urge to throw up.

Her blood is _everywhere_. It's coming from an arrow that's been lodged into her throat.

Oh shit, I can't look anymore.

I turn away and feel tears start to pile up in my eyes. I wipe them away to clear my blurred vision.

Shit. I don't think I can _do_ this anymore.

My hands are shaking, I can feel them.

_Shit!_ What's wrong with m–

…And now I'm looking up at the sky and I'm on my back.

What the hell…

That same guy I knocked over must have kicked my legs out from under me when I wasn't paying attention.

And now he's on top of me, swinging and trusting his sword at me, and all I can do is struggle to his block his attacks because I remember dropping my spear.

I suddenly remember all those drills that Gaara and I did.

I push my shield up, my arms strain against his weight, but I mange to push him off of me and he rolls to his side.

Before I realize it I'm pulling one of my daggers from it's holder on my thigh and I'm rolling over, reaching, and plunging it into his body.

It's not until I manage to get up do I see where I have hit him.

My knife is in his neck and for a second I see Rhea again.

My heart jumps and I shake my head to get rid of the images. I turn myself away from the direction of the real Rhea and the man I have just killed.

I take deeps breaths to calm my racing heart.

You'd think after forty-five minutes of battling and killing people whom attacked you, I'd be used to the blood and gore by now.

And I am, but I defiantly wasn't ready to see blood pouring from Rhea's wound and her lifeless eyes.

To think it wasn't even an hour ago that she was joking around and talking with us…I wonder if she knew she was going to die like this…felt it somehow.

Tenten is going to be devastated.

I scan the area and finally spot her fighting three gladiators at once. She doesn't seem distracted or angry or sad. Maybe she didn't know yet…she must not have noticed the scream.

A little ways away from Tenten I noticed Temari.

I watch as she mercilessly takes advantage of her opponent as he stumbles on a rock, and knocks his sword to the ground. I can't help but flinch either as she punches him hard across the face.

Whatever she intends to do – and I know she'll do whatever it takes – it looks to me like she does it in an emotional void. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe she enjoys it. Temari looks like the kind of person who would.

Or maybe she just knew how to turn off her heart, which would make sense if you've been in this kind of business long.

I envy her as I watch her fight. I want to be able to turn everything off too. Just press a button and shut myself down. To turn off my heart and my mind so that there was no good, no bad, no right, no wrong.

I know I have to protect myself, and I have been. It's not like I haven't been killing anyone who attacks me, but to be able to do it without emotion distracting you sometimes…now _that_ would be helpful.

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**_Temari's POV_ **

The bones in my fist connect viscously with the bones in the side of his face. There's a sickening cracking sound and I doubt it's the sound of _my_ bones breaking.

The so called 'strong' gladiator, now on the ground below me, moans quietly in agony as he clutches the side of his face with on hand and with the other tries to reach for his fallen sword just a few inches away from him.

I snicker at his pathetic attempt and easily kick the weapon farther away.

He glances up at me and I evilly smile back down. His mouth is set into a hateful frown and his eyes dance with anger, but he doesn't fool me. Beneath the anger I can see fear, fear for his pathetic life; he knows I'm going to kill him.

Well, he's wrong…ok maybe not entirely wrong, but I'm not going to be the one deciding his fate. I'll let the crowd do that.

I wrap my hand tightly around his bloodied upper arm and yank him up so that he is kneeling in front of him with his back to me, and his front facing the crowd.

I take my spear, lift my arm over his head, and put the tip of it to his neck.

I stare up at the crowd with a menacing look in my eyes.

"What shall I do with him?!" I scream to them.

At once the section that I'm standing in front of goes wild with shouts and cheering. Just seconds after I ask them, they all start to put their hands in front o them, either showing me a thumbs up or down. Even people several sections over turn their attention away from whomever they were watching just a minute ago and toward me. They start to give their opinions too.

This is what I live for.

The people love the fights, they love the chance to decide someone's fate, and I love the power and the spotlight.

I see that most of the crowd has given me thumbs down, and then I look over the head of the man kneeling below me. Already I see the tip of my spear has been tainted with his blood even though I have done nothing yet; it's the blood that's flowing from his nose and lip from when I punched him. I even notice a nasty purple bruise has started to form on the side of his face.

I smirk.

Nice, Temari.

I know his excepts he fate though because slowly and gently he pulls slightly away from me so that he can face me and kneel.

He knows as a gladiator that he life span is usually about as long as a fly's. He also knows that if the crowd decides he is to die, then he will. He also knows that he must take his death like a man. He accepts it, it's what he's been taught.

And I'm happy to accept his fate too.

He closes his eyes and before he can take another breath, I plunge my spear into his heart.

The crowd goes wild and all I can feel and hear is the thrumming of power and adrenaline coursing through my veins. And I don't notice the man behind me until it's too late.

And now all I can feel is the metal sting of a sword lodging itself into my shoulder and I can hear only the ripping of skin and muscle.

And although I can feel only pain and hear only my screaming, I can still mange to somehow turn around as I clutch my wound and see my attacker take out a knife and pull it back seconds from slashing it across my throat.

And as I'm also starting to accept my fate –because I have also been taught this way – I see a flash of white collide with my attacker and he topples over.

Once I get over the shock that I'm not dead – Ha! – I realize that it was Ana. _She_ had tackled that guy to the ground…_she_ saved my life.

_Why?_

"What the hell are you doing?" I finally hiss as I stand up – with a little struggling, _ok_ – fighting the pain in my shoulder.

Ana is on top of the gladiator and quickly pulls out one of her needles and punctures the side of his neck. His struggling body goes limp and his eyes roll to the back of his head. I can't tell if he's dead or just unconscious.

Ana climbs off of him and walks over to me.

"You can't die on us yet, Temari," she orders as her face stays a determined emotional void, "there's only eight of us now and we still have a ways to go."

She was talking about Alexandria. Yeah, we are down a girl; I had seen the arrow wedged into Rhea's pale slight neck and the blood that darkened her bright red hair.

That was the breaks; this was a battle.

But as much as I hate to admit it, Ana is right. We need everyone alive if we're going to get out of this.

I take a deep breath and yank the sword from my shoulder. A sickening sucking sound fills my ears as the weapon comes out of my body. I wince and take a second to get over my pain.

"Thanks," I mutter reluctantly, not really wanting to say it, but I know I owe it to her none the less.

Ana shrugs,

"Like I said: we can't afford anyone else to die."

And then she turns around to find the next gladiator she was to fight.

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**_Sakura's POV_**

Ok, Sakura, you can do this. Take a deep breath…good, now let it out.

Now get your head out of Naruto's chest and watch the fight.

I listen to my own advice and slowly lift my head from my blonde master's body and put both arms around my middle. My heart hasn't stopped pounding against my chest since the fight started and hasn't made any signs of slowing down so I gave up on the poor organ a long time ago. Now I'm just concentrating on not letting the rest of me fall apart because I know I am pretty darn close.

I have already watched Mira nearly get choked to death, Ino get knocked out and almost killed, Ana get stabbed in the thigh, and Siyra, Tenten and Maria almost get chopped in half.

And then I watched as an arrow ran through Alexandria's neck. Oh my god, after witnessing that…well I actually fainted. Naruto said I was only out for five minutes, but I really wish I would have hit my head and got amnesia or something so I would never have to see the image played back in my mind again.

Ugh…her blood, it was everywhere. There was so much that it was turning her hair color, clothes, and skin all the way to her finger tips a dark red. There was even enough left over to pool around almost her whole body.

I am choosing not to even glance in that general direction. I don't want to see her again, probably looking paler the usual against all the dark red. My stomach feels queasy just thinking about it, and my knees still feel like their weak.

I didn't really know Alexandria all that well, just got told who she was today and I never actually talked to her, but she seemed like such a fierce, strong girl, and I could defiantly tell she was a good friend of Tenten's.

It's such a sad thing. I hope Tenten doesn't find out till after the battle's over. We don't need her distracted and dying as well.

This was not my idea of a good time and I can't understand why everyone in the stadium watching is so excited and energized. They look like they would watch this for weeks if they could. _I_ really wasn't sure if I could take it any more.

But then again it made me even more nervous when I wasn't watching my friends. So, Sakura, suck it up and turn around.

I tighten the hold I have around my middle to make sure I don't fall into pieces, close my eyes, turn around, and then open them again.

With everyone else spread out to my sides, I'm standing on a large long, fat box that's against the wall and I'm looking through a little barred half window near the ceiling of the room that rest of group 14 and my group are in. The little window is at ground level of the arena.

These are the things I see: Mira and Ino working together to kill four gladiators that are attacking them. Maria and Siyra teaming up and fighting against a man with a helmet on and two unique jagged edged swords. Kin and Tenten each busy fighting with their own enemies. Ana tackling a gladiator that looked about ready to kill Temari with a knife, and – wait a second…did Ana just _save_ Temari?

Well, that's something you don't see everyday.

I turn to Naruto, who is behind me sharing my window to look through.

"Did you just see that…"

He nods looking just as dumbfounded as I feel.

I look over at Sasuke who is on my right. His eyes are glued to the scene playing out of his window and he's not showing any signs that he saw what Naruto and I did, but I know he must have because I know his eyes haven't left Ana at all through this whole fight.

Oh, actually I think he has a little bit of disapproval on his face…and now anger. Fury actually.

Ok, Sasuke you can chill out it wasn't that big a deal. Don't be a grouch.

"Oh shit…"

I break out of my thoughts and my head snaps to Naruto behind me.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

He doesn't answer and instead just keeps staring out to the fight in the arena with a look of fear and anger in his eyes. I follow his gaze and look out the window for myself.

Wow, I've missed a lot in the two minutes my attention was elsewhere.

The scene has changed considerably, and I see now why Sasuke looked so angry.

There are now five male gladiators still left in the battle, and I count eight of us…but Temari seems to be unconscious or wounded, I can't tell, so I guess there's seven of us. But what really surprises me is that out of these five men left I see the faces of _Orochimaru_ and _Zabuza_.

Have they been there the whole time?

My eyes suddenly spot helmets thrown to the side, and I think they just about pop out of their sockets.

Why those sneaky _bastards_! They had helmets on the whole time! So that's why they looked so smug earlier…

Well this is just great and – _what_ does Kin think she's _doing!?_

I let out a gasp.

"Hey Kin your on our side stop attacking Tenten!" I scream out the window even though I know no one can hear me, "What the hell is she _doing?"_

I was really just talking out loud to myself but Gaara, who's on my right, answers anyway.

"It looks like she's chosen to take sides with her master," he says and I can tell he's not very happy.

I look back out at the fight.

Mira, Siyra, and Ino are now fighting each of the three of the five males that are left – they look like their pretty good, and they'd have to be if they've survived for this long – and Tenten is now fighting against Kin while Maria is against Orochimaru.

On the other end of the arena, Temari is still on the ground showing no signs of getting up, and Ana is fighting against Zabuza.

I now count six of them, because of Kin's betrayal, and six of us, because Temari looks like she's still down. So we're even…_shit._

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**_Ana's POV_ **

I take a couple needles out of they're holders and throw them at my opponent. They miss the vital spots I'm aiming for and instead hit him in a couple of his pressure points.

Damn, not what I was hoping for but he crumbles to the ground anyway, paralyzed.

I look down at my needle holder on my left leg, my good leg – I switched all my weapon holders to that leg since the right one is still throbbing with pain – and see that I am just about out. Maybe enough for one good handful of a throw but that's it.

And shit…I just bled through my second bandage. Maybe I shouldn't have tackled that guy, I think that's what caused it to bleed so much.

I sigh and walk – ok, _limp_…my leg hurts, all right! – over to the man I have just paralyzed.

That guy was going to kill Temari, and we don't need any more casualties after Rhea – I shudder involuntarily – and it was a hurried instinct decision to tackle him. So, yeah, I wasn't really thinking when I did it.

I finally hobble my way over to my opponent. His eyes are rolling around wildly and I can tell he's trying to fight against his paralysis.

Don't fight it dude, your not getting back up.

I take out two of my needles from their holder and puncture first the back of his neck for him to lose consciousness, and then the front of his throat to cut off all oxygen to the brain. His eyes go still and his mouth slack. It's quick, it's mostly pain-free, and it's one of the easiest ways I know to kill someone.

I take out all of my needles that are in him and put them back in my holder.

Maybe I should go around and do this to the other guys I killed with needles or still have my needles in them…

Well, first things first: I need to take care of my bleeding thigh problem.

I carefully unwrap my current soaked bandage and throw it to the ground and then rip a long piece of cloth from my dead opponent's clothes to rewrap my leg.

I wince as I finish tying a tight knot against my wound.

It would be awesome if I was like some kind of goddess or something and could heal within like a second.

Okay now to find someone else to fight or go see what everyone else is – _ouch_.

Alright, what just hit me.

I sit up and see a guy with a helmet on holding a thick sword standing in front of me. He's just standing there like he's waiting for me to get up.

Fine.

I smirk up at him and take my last sword from my waist.

Suddenly, just as I'm starting to get up, I see a flash of yellow behind my new enemy, and then a hand comes up and hits the man in the side of the neck with the butt of a spear.

The man stagers and finally falls to the ground. I think he might be unconscious, or he could just be seeing black dots right now, but either way he's coming back up in just a minute.

I look up and see Temari in front of me now.

Oh, so it was her.

I stare at her trying to understand, while she glares back down at me.

"Look," she says stepping over the fallen man to come closer to me, "I hate you and I owe you shit. I just came over to tell you that, and it doesn't change just because you saved – "

"Temari…"

_"What_?"

I motion with my eyes behind her to the gladiator that's starting to get back up.

She scowls like he's some sort of annoyance that's in her way of giving me this message, raises her spear, and turns around.

The man is up now and it looks to me like his body is shaking. But then I hear something coming from him and realize he's laughing.

Wait a second…why does that laughing sound so familiar…?

My body suddenly feels like it's frozen.

Oh shit, it can't be.

Temari seems to realize it too.

"Zabuza…?"

He takes off his helmet, still shaking with laughter.

Damn it. It is him. Now I know why he was giving me those looks earlier.

Zabuza throws his helmet to the ground and stops laughing. Now he's just smiling and right at me around Temari.

Temari lowers her weapon and her voice comes out sounding really confused.

"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were – "

His eyes move to Temari and his smile disappears.

"Move."

"What?"

"I said _move_."

He steps closer to her.

"But wait does Kin know? Is Orochimaru here?"

Zabuza lifts up his hand and backhands her across the face. I hear it as it contacts with her face and flinch.

Ouch, I bet that hurt.

I still can't see Temari's face because her back is still to me, but her voice sounds angry now.

"What the hell was that for!"

Zabuza is clearly furious now. His eyebrows pull together and this time he uses the end of his sword to hit her in the side of the head.

I gasp as Temari crumples to the ground and doesn't move.

I'm sure my face is still full of surprise when I look back up at Zabuza.

He's not angry anymore. In fact, I think I might have imagined his angry look before because now he looks completely fine…smug actually.

He smirks,

"It's just you and me again, sweetheart…"

Shit.

I scramble to get to my feet and ignore the pain that shoots up my thigh.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit._

I raise the sword that's still in my hand.

Hasn't he gotten everything he wanted? Why can't he just leave me alone for once?

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**_Maria's POV_ **

Just who does this guy think he is?

And I knew Kin was evil, but this is low even for her.

Just seconds before we out numbered them, but now since Kin's decided to betray us, we're even. Mira, Siyra, and Ino all have their own problems they're dealing with right now, so it would have been nice if Tenten, Kin and I could have taken this other guy on together.

This other guy? It's Orochimaru.

Once Kin saw her beloved master, she decided to switch sides, so now Tenten has to deal with her instead of help me.

I've never seen Orochimaru fight before this, and now I am.

…And I'm really wishing it wasn't me fighting him.

His two jagged edged swords were already intimidating before he started swinging them at me, now I think I might have nightmares about them.

Actually, right now I feel like I'm living in one of those nightmares were you can't do anything against someone chasing you or attacking you, because Orochimaru isn't giving me any chance to do anything but defend myself. There is no room for me to attack; he barely gives me enough time to raise my shield up against his swords.

He swings both his swords at me again and I block them, only this time instead of backing up a step and then coming at me again, he keeps coming. He's pressing himself and his weapons against my shield trying to over power me and send me to the ground.

I can't see his face but I know he must be smirking; he thinks this is going to work. But what he obviously doesn't know is that I've trained with Gaara this way. Strength and defense are my specialty, just like strategy is Shikamaru's and speed and endurance is Ana's.

He keeps pushing against me but I'm holding my own. At first the pressure is steady then suddenly I feel him shift his weight a bit and the next thing I know he's reached around my shield and plunged a small knife into my right arm, the one not holding the shield.

I groan against the pain.

Ah, shit. That was probably his plan from the beginning. Distract me and get close enough to me so that he could wound me because he knew he wasn't going to do it just by swinging his swords at me since I was blocking him.

That sneaky son of a bitch.

Damn it, I'm going to hear it from Gaara too the next time we train…

Even though my arm is bleeding badly and throbbing like mad right now, thinking about Gaara makes me remember the small knives he gave me before the fight and told me to use in case someone got too close.

I smile slightly. Ok asshole, two can play this game.

My whole right arm is starting to go numb – probably from blood loss – so while I keep pushing against Orochimaru's strength, I quickly pull out one of the small knives Gaara had instructed I put in a holder around my leg, reach around underneath my shield and stick it straight into his thigh.

Orochimaru lets out an angry yell and I feel him waver in his force against me.

On a spit second decision I bend down, swing out my leg and kick his feet out from under him in a quick graceful motion, and then I'm up again and I throw down my shield. Before I even realize it, I'm on top of him, gripping another knife and pushing that one into his stomach.

Orochimaru lets out another yell only this time I can tell he's in more pain.

I smile triumphantly, take out another one of my handy knives and get ready to plunge this one onto his heart.

But that's when I hear a scream and I know it's from Tenten.

I look to my left to see a couple needles sticking out from Tenten's arms and a small knife jutting out from a deep wound in her stomach. Kin is walking toward her with the nastiest grin on her face.

No way is that bitch killing Tenten.

I've only practiced throwing weapons a little when I was training with Sasuke, and it wasn't like I was great at it or anything, but right now I don't have any other choice. I take the knife I was going to use to kill Orochimaru and throw it in Kin's direction instead.

Common at least hit her. Don't miss…

Whoa. I actually hit her.

And in the side! Score!

She screams and then turns to look in my direction. She knows immediately it's me and gives me a hateful glare. Suddenly she's lost all interest in killing Tenten and now is heading for me.

This gives Tenten plenty of time to take out three knives from her holders, fight against her pain, and while Kin's back is turned, shoves them into her body.

Kin's eyes go wide and her back arches.

But that's all I see because now I'm on my back and Orochimaru has rolled me over and is on top of me, smiling down.

Now is defiantly the time that I wish I sill had my shield.

Orochimaru heaves my knife out of his stomach, leans down and presses it to my neck.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he all but hisses in my ear and then suddenly I can feel his long, slimy tongue as he runs it up my cheek.

I flinch away from him and wince as I feel the knife slowly press harder against my throat and begin to feel the skin break.

Something suddenly swings over me and hits Orochimaru straight in the side of the head, sending him falling over me to the side.

The pressure is lifted from my neck and without even taking the time to see who saved me, I seize my chance, take my second to last knife out my it's holder and stab Orochimaru in the heart as he is just recovering from the nasty blow to his head.

I suddenly feel as if a heavy load has just been removed from my shoulders. One arm is throbbing from pain, the other from exhaustion, my muscles hurt in places I didn't even realize I had muscles, but I know I can let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully the worst is over.

I roll over onto my other side and see Tenten struggling to sit herself up in a sitting position just a couple feet from me. She catches my eye and I smile at her.

"Thanks," I whisper.

She smiles slightly back and I can tell her stomach wound is really bothering her. She's clutching it but I can see the skin all around it is swollen and the top of her skirt and the bottom of her top are soaked with blood. But she puts on a grateful half smile anyway.

"Same to you."

Behind her I see Siyra, Mira, and Ino running towards us; they're dead enemies lying on the ground behind them.

No one is left that I can see.

We must've survived this.

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**_Ana's POV_**

There's just something exhilarating about fighting for your life. Your heart uncontrollably pounding in your chest, the pulse loudly thrumming in your ears, the adrenaline pumping through your veins, the quick fluid movements of your body, making you capable of taking life within a second. Your brain heightening your senses for survival: your hearing is ten times better, your eye sight is quicker, sharper, you can smell things differently because everything seems stronger.

The feeling is addictive, but at the same time it scares the shit outta you.

Because who knew your body was capable of this until you actually put yourself on the line?

The pain from my leg was becoming unbearable but still I was standing. I had been hit three times in the head so far but still I was conscious. My body was absolutely exhausted but still I was fighting. And it's not because I'm some kinda amazing goddess or anything – if this was training I would have quit along time ago – but because I didn't have any other choice.

Zabuza is coming at me, swinging his deadly sword – which isn't as bad as that huge one he has somewhere, but really…any sword in the hands of Zabuza is deadly – and he's not letting down.

He is determined to kill me, whatever it takes. And he has yet to fail to tell me that every five minutes.

Ugh, he is such a douche-bag.

"You better hope I don't get my hands on you, sweetheart," he's saying again for the fourth time as he swings his weapon at me and I parry it away with my own sword, "because I'm going to kill you slowly just to be sure that Sasuke sees it all."

I shiver involuntarily. Even though I hate to admit, he scares the living shit outta me.

But I can't lose. Not to him, and not again. Because this time it's not for my virtue, it's for my life.

_Common_, I know how he fights; I should be able to maneuver around his attacks…

He swings his thick weapon at me again but instead of blocking his with my own, this time I dodge, roll to the side, and quickly throw what small knives I still have with me at him.

One knife hits him in the arm; the other two hit him in the leg.

Zabuza cries out, but it's angry. He charges at me again so I scramble back up to my feet, and just in time for another swing and a block from me. After I block him, I swing my leg up and kick him hard in the side of the stomach, sending him staggering back. As a reflex, so that I won't do too much while he's stumbling, he blindly swings at me, causing me to back up before I get sliced through my middle.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a discarded sword. I step over to it and pick it up…hopefully this will help.

He has just gotten up when I start charging at him. I swing both swords at him and this time he's the one that has to block me. Our weapons hit and grind against each other, but neither of us wavers in our attacks.

My chest is heaving and my legs and arms are aching. There is no way I'm fighting on anything but adrenaline and will power at this point.

But then suddenly I feel it: my bad leg buckles and I stumble just a inch and at the same time my arms give in just a bit, but that's all the betrayal I need from my body for Zabuza to notice his advantage and take it.

The next thing I know I've been kicked in the gut and I'm slouched over spitting blood out my mouth and to the dirt below me.

I feel like all the organs in my middle have exploded inside of me. I cough again, but this time I hear Zabuza laughing.

Out of anger I lash out both my swords at him but I can feel that it's pathetic, they don't have enough force behind them to do any damage. He blocks one with his own sword and with his other hand he easily grabs hold of my wrist and stops my other sword.

I look up at him and he's smirking back down at me.

And then I start to feel the pain in my wrist. He's pushing it backward into an unnatural position.

I can't help but scream and he pushes it back farther, his smirk growing bigger and more satisfied. I suddenly hear a cracking sound and I drop the sword I'm holding.

The strength that I'm using to hold my last sword against his in the other hand dwindles and he lets go of my injured wrist to free that hand and use it have a two hand advantage on his sword's handle and to help over power me.

I instantly retract and cradle my injured wrist to my body.

Now with one hand I am trying to hold off Zabuza and his thick sword from cutting me in two, but every second my own weapon only gets pushed closer back toward me until it's inches from my face.

God, I have to do something…I _have_ to do _something_. I can't lose here, not to him.

I grit my teeth and with all the tolerance and strength I have left, I desperately grab my last needles from my holder with my injured hand and stab them deep into his closest arm, hoping that at least one of them hits a good spot to paralyze his arm.

He lets out an annoyed growl at my last desperate attempt to do something, and uses his foot to kick me straight in the wound on my thigh.

My leg instantly buckles – _shit!_ – and I cry out in agony.

I think the pressure from Zabuza's attack lets up – I'm not really sure because all I can feel is pain vibrating off every cell in my leg – because next thing I know, I've dropped my last weapon and I'm kneeling on my good knee on the ground in front of Zabuza.

I moan loudly and grit my teeth…fuck it _hurts_.

I hear Zabuza laughing above me.

My eyes are screwed shut in pain, but I open them and muster all the loathing I have for him and focus them into my eyes and face, then I glare up at the man before me.

"Fucking douche-bag," I hiss.

Zabuza smiles,

"No hard feelings, sweetheart," he says casually, "but it's good business."

He motions to all the excited and rowdy fans above us whom I had forgotten about until now.

Now their cheering was meeting my ears when before I was deaf to it, and my eyes could make out their faces and clothes when before they were just blurred colors.

I look back to Zabuza and scowl hatefully. He's staring back at me again.

"Plus I want to see the look on Sasuke's face after the battle when he's watched me kill you."

And that's when it really sinks in.

I'm going to die.

My eyes are never going to see Serenity and Cassandra again after I promised I would come for them when my time was up.

My ears are never going to hear Naruto and Sakura bicker back and forth all morning long again.

My mouth is never going to talk to Maria late at night again.

My fingers are never going to touch Sasuke again.

Once again Zabuza is getting the better of me, and even when I've given it my all, it's still not enough.

I watch helplessly as Zabuza places the tip of his sword to the skin over my heart.

I close my eyes and wait for it.

Suddenly I hear something sickening and seconds after something wet and warm splatters across my face.

I snap open my eyes to see something sharp and tainted red has broken through Zabuza's skin right where his heart is.

He falls sideways to the ground before me and standing behind him is Temari, and she's looking disgusted as her eyes scan over her fallen master.

"I never really liked you anyway," she tells the body distastefully.

To be honest, I don't really know what I'm feeling right now: surprised, angry, confused, thankful?

I think what I'm mostly feeling over everything is physical pain; it's pretty much drowning out anything mental at this point.

I just stare dumbly at Temari as she steps over Zabuza and walks toward me.

She steps up to me and does something even more surprising then running her master through with her spear.

She holds out her hand to me and gives me a slight grin.

"I don't owe anyone anything…_ever_."

Despite everything I let out a quiet relieved laugh, and with my good hand I reach up and take hers.

She helps me up and we start walking toward our surviving group, but I take one last look over my shoulder at the body of Zabuza behind me.

His eyes are open but unfocused and he looks like he's looking at something in front of him.

I look into those lost eyes that will never see again and in my heart I feel relief. Zabuza, the man that stole from me but also helped me gain someone I wanted to stay with forever, is finally dead.

And just by looking at his dead body, I know that things are going to start getting a lot better.

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**_Sakura's POV_**

Tears are streaming down my face, but I'm far from giving a crap.

These girls are going to give me a heart attack before I hit twenty-five.

They just about did this time, and I think any longer and I would have.

Ugh, my poor heart.

But it's over. I can finally try to start claming down because they're safe now.

After everything, they're safe…and I can't stop crying.

"S-Sakura, it's ok, it's over…you can stop crying…" Naruto says nervously into my hair as he rubs my back.

"Shut up and have a heart," I hiss moodily. I untangle my arms from around him and look back out through my window and into the arena.

Ino and Siyra hold onto Tenten and try to keep her from moving around too much because of her stomach wound as they pass Rhea's body. Through my happiness my heart clenches when I see that Tenten is sobbing uncontrollably for her dead friend. She's doing everything she can to tear herself away from Ino and Siyra to get to Rhea.

Finally the two give up and carefully help Tenten to her friend, where she drops to her knees and continues to cry next to Rhea.

Mira limps slowly over to them with Temari behind her rubbing her temples like she has a headache.

Behind them Maria has her good arm around Ana's waist and is helping her walk over to everyone else.

Suddenly, large double wooden doors in front of them moan against their weight and age, and slowly open.

The girls look up. I can't see anything on their faces but blood, dirt, remorse and exhaustion.

Ino and Siyra help Tenten up who is crying quietly now and head toward the way out. Mira, Temari, Maria and Ana all follow behind.

That's it. It's finally over.

And I'm not the only one to think relived thoughts.

"Well, that was fun," Kiba chuckles uneasily, his voice wavering from stress.

I roll my eyes,

"Yeah…a little _too much_ fun," I mumble sarcastically.

"I never want to see that again," Neji adds angrily.

"Amen brother."

That was Naruto…figures.

Even though we weren't the ones fighting, we had some problems earlier down here as well. As if the stress and worrying wasn't enough, then we had to add some drama when Sasuke just about ran down the hall hoping to get himself through one of the arena doors and throw himself into the fight.

Yeah, it took Naruto, Neji, Kiba _and_ Shikamaru to hold him down.

I could tell Gaara was thinking along the same lines as Sasuke, but good thing he had better self-control because I was the only one who was free to stop him if he decided to bolt.

No, that probably wouldn't have gone well.

Everyone seems ok though now that it's over. We're relieved and maybe only half-crazed now…I think we just need some more time for that…

I wipe my tears away and look back at Naruto and smile widely.

His blue eyes light up and he smiles back. It reminds me of when the sun finally comes out after a cloudy day.

Everything is going to be okay now, I can feel it.

Orochimaru and Zabuza are dead and gone, my friends survived their first big fight, and we were that much closer to getting outta here.

The worst of the storm has passed.

Now we just have to get through the future battles that will ultimately lead to our freedom.

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And there you have it: _Gladiators._

Wow. This chapter was 41 pages.

Plz tell me what you thought of the ending! Did you like? Think it was awful? Was it too long? Too slow? I need feedback people!

It's finished, I'm done, and on to my next story!

Well actually here's the plan if anyone is interested: I think what I'm going to do is go back to the beginning of this story and kinda tweak and fix any of my writing that I didn't like. It's not going to be a drastic change that will alter the whole story or anything, just adding a few words here and there or rearranging stuff. It's more for me so I can feel more satisfied with the story but your welcome to read it if you want to, even though I doubt you'll be able to tell the difference.

Anyway before I do that, I have like two or three more chapters to write for Just Wanna Be Me before that's finished, then I'm going back and doing the same with that story as well – it shouldn't take very long – and THEN I'm starting a brand new story.

The stories that I'm thinking about writing are posted with their summaries on my profile if your interested…but I think I'm leaning towards starting one called Someone Like You which is a Naruto fic.

But it would be much appreciated if you want to read over some of the summaries and give me some opinions on Someone Like You or any other stories that you think would be more interesting to read.

_Thank you, thank you, thank you_, and a million and one times **THANK YOU** for everyone who stuck with this story and reviewed! You have no idea how helpful you were to me…I probably wouldn't have finished if it weren't for you guys and I'm so glad I did. Right now I'm feeling really accomplished and happy that I finished this even if the ending sucked. So thank you again…I am so grateful to you guys.

Over and out!

--rayluva4


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